Renewed Contract
by Ethereal Canon
Summary: 3 years has pass since the Nyx incident. Months has pass since the fight against Izanami. Our heroes are now enjoying their ordinary life again, except for someone. What would happen if he was given another chance to seal 'Death' for good? P3FES/P3P X P4
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER

P3 & P4 are ATLUS'

We don't own any of the charas but we own the story :P

Our first fic... Made by me and my sister, LOL

Enjoy... and please R&R. Critiques are welcome. ^^

* * *

Renewed Contract

Prologue

* * *

Unknown Time & Place

* * *

The sound of footsteps could be heard in the darkness. There's nothing in the place. Only nothingness could be sensed. It is a place that couldn't be explained. The place was filled with a white-gray fog. She couldn't see clearly in that place because of the thick fog. It looked like the floor had some pool of waters. Some of it had red color, the bloody red color like.

Suddenly the sound of the footsteps stopped. There, stood a young woman who has a short silver hair and a pair of glowing golden eyes. She wore a blue dress from head to toe. A hat, an elbow long gloves, knee high boots, black stockings and a knee high dress. She seemed to be holding a very thick book.

She looked around her. It seems she wasn't bothered or afraid seeing the red pool and the fog around her that makes people unable to see the direction. It was really quiet in there. In front of her was a giant door with a human statue being chained in the center of it, sealing something within the giant door.

"Bingo~!" said the woman breaking the silence in the darkness. She stepped closer to the giant door and put her hand on the door.

"I've finally found you." She said while smiling.

Some roaring could be heard out of the blue and there was a quake in that place. She didn't flinch a bit! She could stand still easily even with the quake happening.

A monstrous figure appeared out of the mist behind her. It has 2 heads, one on the front and the other one behind it. The monster roared ferociously towards the woman. She seemed to be not afraid of the monster.

"It appears that there's an uninvited guest here." the woman uttered as she looked at the beast from the corner of her eye.

"Could you wait for me until I finished this? I'll take care of this thing first and then I'll release you. I promise it will be quick, Okay~?" said the woman with a smile. She then started charging in to the beast.

* * *

December 26th, 2012

6:25 P.M.

* * *

The sound of the speeding train could be heard very loud in the ears. A young man with silver bowl cut hair and handsome face was sitting alone in the train. He was wearing a gray shirt, black jacket and black trousers.

He put one of his elbows on the armchair and put his palm on his cheek, looking at the sight from the train windows next to him.

"_It's been 9 months since I left this town and 'that' incident. Time sure flies away." _he thought.

He started to take something from his bag. He took out a picture. He smiled as he looked at it. The picture seemed very precious to him.

"_Hmmm… I wonder how everyone's doing… Well, I will know when I get there." _

He started to feel sleepy. "_I think I lacked some sleep… I've been busy since the start of this week. I'm still tired after the closing ceremony at school this morning. Should I get some sleep now?" _he thought to himself.

A blue butterfly appeared flying in front of him. He felt something familiar with it. He tried to remember where he had seen it before.

"_I've seen this blue butterfly before, but where had I seen it... Ugh, I can't think anymore. I'm too tired…" _he thought as he started to wonder to the dream world.

The blue butterfly disappeared into thin air after the man fell asleep while he was still holding the picture firmly in his hand.

* * *

Dream World, December 26th 2012

_

* * *

In the dream, the young man was standing on a large bridge. The sky has a full moon that luminous an eerie yellow-green light and there were no one except him and lots of coffins. Around him were pools of blood like red liquid. Even the sea was red._

'_Another weird dream?' he thought with a sigh. _

_Suddenly a blue butterfly flew in front of him. He began to try to remember where he had seen it. He thought for sure that he had seen it in his other dreams before. He had been having similar dreams since last week. He decided to follow the blue butterfly, walking past the bridge. When he was walking he heard someone crying. __He sear__ched for the source of the voice.__ Then he saw a car burning. He quickly ran to the car to s__ee if what had happened._

_He saw a blue haired boy, about seven years old sitting and crying beside the burning car. The boy was holding a body of a dead girl. It seems like it's the body of his sister. His parents were also dead. He tried to grab the boy's shoulder but something unexpected happened. His hand ran passed through the boy's body. He was taken aback. Suddenly everything dispersed into a dust, sending him to the darkness._

"_Ugh… What's happening?" he said to himself. _

_When he looked at his front, there was a big giant door. "What is that?" _

_He walked closer to the door and tried to examine it. The door had eye like carvings engraved on it. Each of the eyes was looking into a different direction. He noticed that in the center of the door was a humanlike statue being chained. When he put his hand on the door, the eye carvings suddenly turned their stare to him and he could hear the screams of many humans. _

_The screams were terrible. They were complaining about their lives, about how they want everything to be ended, their lives, the world. The voices were wishing for death. It shot the pain into the man head, made him fell into his knee, clinging to his head. _

"_What… is this? It… hurts… Stop it…!" he tried to struggle against the voices._

"_Whoa… I'm surprised you could still stand up after hearing those voices." said an unknown figure which appeared out of nowhere. _

_The voice was coming from behind him and apparently, it was a child's voice._

'_What?' the man thought. He turned his head to look behind him and found a young boy with a short black hair. He was wearing white and black striped clothes like a prisoner. _

"_Normal people would have fainted and lost his heart after touching that door and hearing the voices. It's best for you to not touch it again… That is… If you want to continue to live." said the boy with a smirk in his face._

_The silver haired boy was now standing up. Half of the pain in his head had now gone but his head was still dizzy. "Who… Are you?" asked the man, curiously and confused, after what had happened. _

"_You don't need to know about me." Answer the boy with a chuckle. _

"_Then can you tell me what this place is? Where am I?"_

"_This place, huh? Well, this place is a dimension, separating the reality and the world of dreams. It exists between minds and matters. This is the place where Nyx is sealed." the boy answered._

"_Nyx? What's... Nyx? Why is it sealed in here?" he asked the boy again.  
_

_The boy chuckled and replied, "I can't answer that question right now. You'll learn about it in time, Onii-san."_

"_What about the door? Is Nyx sealed behind it?"_

_Hearing that, the boy giggled slightly and asked the man, "Hmm… Do you want to hear a story? A story about a hero who saved the world by sacrificing himself to saved humanity."_

'_What?' the man thought as he staggered a bit. He was now confused._

_"He was a 17 years old ordinary guy. He had a blue hair and silver eyes. He went to save the world with his friends. He did save the world, but at what cost?"_

'_This… story' the pair of silver eyes was now widened. 'This story, it is the same as the story that Margaret told me after I defeated her!' the man thought._

"_He be…" the boy continued his story, but he got cut by the man's voice._

"_Wait! How did you know about that story?" _

_Chuckling, the boy said, "Of course I know about it, because… I was there when it happened." _

_The man shivered as he saw the boy's smiled._

"_It is time for you to wake up, Onii-san. I shouldn't hold you here any longer. Time flies in the real world. Your mind and body won't be able to endure the pain anymore if you continue to stay here after touching that door."_

_The man's vision started to blur. His head got very dizzy and he fell to the floor._

"_No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." The boy said as his surroundings blurred with mist. "And so it begins."_

"_See you later!" the boy said as the man started to lose his consciousness._

* * *

December 26th, 2012

11:55 P.M.

* * *

"Inaba… Inaba… Inaba... We have arrived at Inaba. Please check your belongings before you leave the train. Thank you for riding with us. We hope you'll be back and ride with us again."

The man snapped up from his slumber.

"_Ngh…. What was that weird dream? It felt really real. What is Nyx anyway? *sigh* Oh well, I think I should probably get going. Thinking about it really hurts my head._" he thought while wiping the sweat of his forehead. He quickly packed up all of his things before he got up from his seat, not forgetting his precious picture.

He walked out of the train and saw that the train station was already empty. Almost nobody was there. It was already quite empty because it's almost 12 o'clock midnight after all. He decided to head to his uncle's house as quickly as possible. He walked to fast that he bumped into someone. All of his things are now scattered everywhere because of the hard impact between the two of them. It knocked both of them down.

"Ouch..." a sound escaping his lips. He quickly got up and patted the dusts on his pants from the floor. The man who bumped into him also did the same thing. He decided to examine the man who bumped into him.

He was wearing a white shirt, a yellow colored scarf and cap, and also a pair of black pants. He can't really see the face of the man because of the cap he wore.

"Ow... I'm sorry about that. I didn't see you there." the man said with an apologetic smile while fixing his cap.

Blinking, he said, "Oh, it's all right, it's my fault for not paying attention."

He seemed to be not bothered or angry by this. To tell the truth, He was still dizzy and confused after what had happened in his dream. He then started to pick up his things that were scattered on the floor.

"Ah! I'll help too!" said the man quickly after he saw what he did. He started to help picking up his things.

After they picked up all of the things, the silverette said his thanks to the man. He then offered his hand to help the man stands up. When he offered his hand, he saw that the man was looking straight to his face.

The man took the offer and stand up. He was now able to see the man's face more clearly. The man had a smile on his face.

For a moment, he saw a hallucination in the man's face. There was a really creepy face. The face was pale white and there were no eyeballs in both of the eyeholes. The face was smiling widely and wickedly. A few seconds later, the hallucination was gone. He was quite staggered by what he had just seen a moment ago.

'_What was that…?'_

"Thank you. I have to get going now. See you later." said the man as he walked passed by the silverette.

He turned his head around to see if the man was still there, but he wasn't. The man had already disappeared into the darkness of the night. He remembered what the man had just said.

"'_See you later'? What did he mean by that?"_ thought him. Pain suddenly shot his head again.

"_Guh... I think I should stop thinking about this for now. The more I think about this, my headache got worst. I had better get to uncle Dojima's house before I collapse in this place, and it isn't funny if I really do collapse in here. I'll be robbed for sure."_

* * *

Somewhere in a nearby alleyway near the train station

December 27th, 2012

00:01 A.M.

* * *

"Have you got the things?" asked a young boy to the young man who had just showed up.

The young man removed his cap and said, "Yeah, here you go."

He threw some things to the boy and the boy grabbed them easily.

"So… his name is Seta Souji, huh? He's a very interesting person," the boy said after looking at the ID card he got from the man.

"His friends are also interesting. Let's wait and see what they can do." He said while looking at the picture.

"Yeah, he's a really interesting person. I can't wait to meet him and his friends in the near future. He reminds me of him." the young man said.

"Well, you should wait patiently, Ryouji-kun. I do hope he won't forget about us though."

"Heh… Are you feeling lonely Pharos?" Ryouji said while lifting his head to see the moon in the sky. "'Cause I'm a bit lonely without 'him' being here." he continued.

"You are me, you know? You should be able to tell how I'm feeling right now, idiot." Pharos said while looking to his feet.

"Oops. I forgot about that. Heheh." Ryouji said smiling. "So, shall we get going?"

"Of course, let's pick him up from that place."

After that conversation, they both vanished into the darkness of the night, leaving traces of dark mists as they did.

* * *

~End of Prologue~

Again… Review please :-)


	2. Chapter 1

Sorry for the really late update...

We got into some arguments as we were writing down this story

Again, We're really sorry for it. End of semester tests in 3 weeks, dang it...

And... sorry if our English is quite... bad _ Sorry if there are any mistypos too

Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

Reviews in Indonesian language are accepted. LOL

Kita orang Indo soalnya :P (sok Inggris bedh...)

Disclaimer : We don't own any of the charas except the story :P

* * *

Renewed Contract

Chapter 1

Their Reunion and the Omen

.

.

Kirijo's Headquarter, Director's office

December 28th, 2012

5:35 P.M.

* * *

Paintings of famous artists could be seen hanging on the wall, decorating the huge room. Sofas and a table were put in the center of the room. Behind the sofas was a desk. The desk was made of mahogany wood. It has beautiful carvings around it. Piles of papers were organized neatly on the desk. Behind it, a certain red haired woman was working, signing the papers.

The woman sighed, "These stuffs never end. It's really making me tired." complained her as she stretched her hand up. She then picked up another one of the paper from the pile to sign it. In the process, she knocked something down.

A photo frame fell from the desk to the carpeted floor.

"Oh, gosh…" she said while taking the frame from the floor as quickly as possible. "I hope it didn't break."

She looked at the picture in the frame and sighed, "It's been so long... I really missed all of them."

In the picture were 8 people and a dog. One was an old man wearing an eye patch. Next is a boy who looked like he was 10 years old, an albino dog with a wing accessory on its clothes, a young woman with brunette hair wearing a pink cardigan, another young woman with a green colored hair wearing a green cardigan inside her uniform, a red haired woman who looked the woman now when she was still in her younger age, a young man with silver short hair wearing a red vest, an idiot who wore a baseball cap and has a goatee who looked like he was going to fall down, and the last one is a blue haired man with a bang covering his right eye. He has a silver colored earphone hanging around his neck.

_Knock! Knock! Knock! _

The door was knocked and a woman came in to the room. "It's time for the appointment, Kirijo-sama," said the woman in the white dress. It seemed like she was her secretary.

"Thank you, Ishima-san. I'll go there as soon as I finish this last paper. You may leave now."

The woman then bowed to her and went out of the room. Now she was alone again in there. She then placed the picture on her desk and continued her work for awhile.

"Ah… Now that that's done, I think I should probably get going to the restaurant. I don't want to make them wait for too long or they'll start complaining to me." A chuckle escaped her mouth after saying that.

She then packed up her things first before going out of her room. She closed her door slowly and gently.

A small sound of a crack could be heard coming from the desk after she closed the door of her office. A crack was formed on the right side of the frame, in front of the picture of the blue haired boy. The crack divided the picture of the boy vertically.

* * *

.

A restaurant in central Tokyo

December 28th, 2012

6:05 P.M.

* * *

"Man… This place looks awesome dude! It's huge! Hey Chidori! Come here quick! Let's take our seats!" said the man with a baseball cap and a goatee to her companion.

She giggled a bit after she heard what his friend had just said.

"You are still like a child you know, Junpei-kun. Don't be too loud or the other customers will get annoyed by your yelling." the red haired woman wearing a gothic lolita costume said.

"Oh, come on Chidori, it's just that I'm too happy to be able to meet our friends again. It's been two years since we have last gathered together. And this place is freaking AWESOME man! Mitsuru-senpai is really good at choosing places like this." Junpei tried to reason himself to Chidori.

"Well, I guess you're right, Junpei-kun. This place looks marvelous. The interior design is really pretty. I like this place." said her while smiling.

The restaurant had a really huge space. It was designed medievally. The walls were covered by golden and silver colored paint. The sources of the light were lantern-like light, hanging on the ceiling and the wall. The ceiling had pictures of angels on it. The pillars were also carved artistically, making the place looked majestic.

"Oh! There you are, Junpei-kun, Chidori-chan. Long time no see." a woman wearing a pink dress said to them.

"Well hello there, Yuka-tan. Seems like you haven't changed at all! How've you been?"

"Stop with the Yuka-tan already, Stupei!"

"Hey! FYI, my name is Junpei! So stop calling me Stupei, Yuka-tan! We're already a University student, ya know!"

"Long time no see, Yukari-san." Chidori bowed to the brunette.

"Hi there, Chidori-chan. Would you mind telling your friend here to keep it down? The other customers seems to be bothered by him right now." Yukari said with a mischievous smile.

"All right, Yukari-san, I'll do just that." She smiled to Yukari before she called Junpei.

"Hey, Junpei-kun! Come here for a bit. I've got something to be discussed. Me and you, right now, okay?" she said while making a gesture. A small smirk could be seen formed on her face.

Junpei looked at Chidori and found out that she was starting to get annoyed by his yelling. She had a creepy grin hanging in her face while calling him. A small vein could be seen on her forehead.

Junpei got goosebumps after seeing her face and he started to beg for his life to her. Chidori couldn't care less about his begging. Junpei now could only wait to be thrown into hell. Finally, he got his ear pulled by Chidori and he got dragged out of the crowd to a quite place inside the restaurant.

Yukari only sweat dropped seeing that and started to wonder. She thought maybe having Chidori as Junpei's girlfriend is the right thing to happen. It seemed like she's the only one who could control Junpei's behavior.

"Well, well, well, it seems like Junpei hasn't changed since the last two years. And neither did you, Takeba."

A man wearing a red vest and a white uniform came into the restaurant and smiled at Yukari and the other two who wasn't paying any attention to the voice of the man. They were too busy discussing something together.

"Hello there, Akihiko-senpai. It's nice to see you again. You haven't changed too, huh? And where's Shinjiro-senpai?" Yukari said with a smile.

"What do you want, Takeba?" the sliding door opened, revealing a man wearing a brown coat and a beanie hat. He gave Yukari a glare and it made her a bit edgy.

"It's nothing, senpai. Glad to see you're doing well." she tried to smile at him.

"Tch." he replied with an annoyed expression on his face.

"By the way, where are the others?" The silverette asked.

"Um… Ken called me last night and said that he and Koro-chan are gonna be a bit late getting here. He said they have something to do first in the dorm this morning. As for Aigis, she's waiting for them in the station right now."

"What about Fuuka?"

"Ah… I don't really know. Try asking Chidori about her. She has been going to the same University as Fuuka since the last 2 years."

"Did anybody call me?" Chidori said. She had finished scolding Junpei and she now had a really satisfied look on her face. Junpei was following her from behind. He had red ears and his face was telling that he had just experience hell on earth.

"Oh, there you are Chidori-chan. Do you know about when will Fuuka get here? It's almost time for Mitsuru-senpai to come up." Yukari asked.

As she said that, the restaurant's door was opened, revealing a panting green haired girl.

She was sweating and she looked really tired. It seemed like she had just run from somewhere to the restaurant.

"Phew. I thought I was gonna be late. Good thing I arrived just in time." she said to herself after catching up her breath.

"Fuuka-chan! Long time no see!" the brunette said to the green haired girl.

"Hello there, Yukari-san. I'm so glad to see you again." the woman named Fuuka responded. "You haven't changed that much, Yukari-san. You're still as beautiful as ever. Akihiko-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai! It's nice to meet you guys again. Oh, and Junpei-kun and Chidori-chan too. I really missed you guys."

"Thank you, Fuuka-chan. By the way, are you still as timid as you were in high school now that you're in University?" Yukari replied.

"Oh, about that, I'm not really that timid as I used to be back then. I've got a lot of friends in my University now. Especially Chidori-chan, she's one of my best friends I have got now. She has been hanging around with me since we started studying at the University."

"I guess that means that you've been enjoying your university life, huh, Fuuka?" the brunette said to her companion. "Well, I'm glad that you are enjoying it."

"Yes I do! I'm really enjoying it. Oh, that reminds me, where are Ken-kun, Aigis-san and Koro-chan? And, is Koro-chan allowed to get in here? … He's a dog afterall." Fuuka asked them.

"Ken and Koromaru are going to be a bit late, Yamagishi. Takeba told us earlier about it. As for Aigis, she is waiting for them at the station right now. And Koromaru is allowed to get in here. Mitsuru had already arranged it." Akihiko answered.

"Anyway, Junpei-kun, why didn't you just date Chidori-chan already?" Yukari teased.

"Wha…? Hey!" Junpei's face reddened.

"Have you told her about what happened?" Fuuka whispered to Junpei.

"Well, no I haven't… It's just that, I don't want her to know about her painful past. I don't want to her to be hurt by it." Junpei uttered with a sad face. "And I want her to like me because of who I am now, not because of the past." he continued.

"Oh… That's so sweet." Fuuka and Yukari said together.

"Hey, that's embarrassing!" Junpei's face reddened. "What about you, Akihiko-senpai? Have you found any girl you're interested in?"

"He-hey! Th-that's private you know!" Akihiko blushed as he said that.

"Okay, Senpai!" Junpei grinned. "Yuka-tan! Have you found any guy you like yet?"

Yukari's face suddenly became sad.

"… No, not yet." she stuttered.

"It's just that… I… I still can't …"

"Way to go, Junpei." Akihiko sighed.

Shinji only gave him a deathglare, threatening Junpei.

"Uh… I'm sorry, Yuka-tan." Junpei cut her off.

"I think we should stop talking about it. We're supposed to be happy that we got to meet again. I don't want us to be gloomy in our reunion today, and talking about 'him' will make the situation really gloomy." Junpei said to her with a goofy smile, trying to cheer her up.

"Okay, thanks Junpei-kun." Yukari said with a shaken voice.

The green haired girl sighed and said, "Yeah, Junpei is right. So, shall we go to our table and wait for the others? The other customers are starting to look at us. It's kind of embarrassing."

They all seemed to agree to Fuuka as they went to their designated table which Mitsuru had reserved for all of them.

* * *

.

Inaba, Dojima's Residence

December 28th, 2012

10:20 A.M.

* * *

The sound of birds chirping could be heard from the outside of Souji's room. It awoke him from his deep slumber. He was very tired from the trip and yesterday's gathering with his friends that as soon as he hit the pillow he fell asleep.

"_It's morning already? I'm still tired…_" Souji thought while yawning.

The morning sunlight shone brightly, making Souji completely awoken. He decided to go down and have his breakfast before he goes out of the house.

As he went down, he spotted his nephew, Nanako, watching the TV about the weather report.

"Ohayou, Nanako-chan." greeted him.

"Ohayou, Onii-san." she replied his big brother with a smile but it faded after she saw her brother's face. "Onii-san, you look tired… Are you okay?"

Souji had a panda eyes on his face. His hairs look messy too. He looked miserable. "Oh, I'm okay, Nanako-chan. I… just feel sleepy, that's all." he fake yawned.

"I see… Onii-san please take care of your body properly. I don't want to see you sick." she said with a concerned face. "Your breakfast is on the table. You can eat it now if you want, or do you want to skip it?"

"Nah, I'll eat it now. I'm really hungry. Last night I didn't eat much at the party."

"Oh, okay then, Onii-san" Nanako said as she continued to watch the TV.

Yesterday, his friends came over to the house to greet him. They all missed him so much that it made such a ruckus in the neighborhood. Souji had to apologize to the neighbors because of it. And last night, his friends came over to the house and made a welcoming party. The girls cooked them the 'Mystery Food X', which Souji decided not to eat. Yosuke and Kanji, on the other hand, were forced to eat them. Of course, they were knocked out after one bite. The girls sweat dropped as they saw how Yosuke and Kanji got knocked out.

He was lucky enough the girls didn't force him to eat it but Naoto's cooking wasn't that bad, he thought to himself while eating the breakfast that Nanako had prepared for him.

* * *

.

What happened yesterday~

.

Dojima's Residence

December 27th, 2012

9:20 A.M.

* * *

Souji woke up from his sleep. He opened his eyes to see the ceiling of his room. He sat back on his bed, trying to regain his power. After a while, he got up to his feet and did some stretching. He changed to his casual clothes before going out of his room.

He yawned again when he was going down the stairs. He then heard some commotion coming from the living room.

'_This voices… It can't be. I haven't even told them about when I'm coming back._' he thought to himself as he entered the living room.

All of a sudden, Souji was thrown away to the floor by an unknown force. '_Ouch, that hurts… It seems like I hit my head a bit._' he rubbed his head that was knocked to the wall behind him. He heard some sobbing as he felt some weight on his body.

"*Sob* *Sob* Sensei… I really missed you!" A blonde haired boy was hugging Souji.

"*Sob* Me too, senpai! I missed you a lot!" A curly haired brunette girl said while crying, making Souji's clothes wet with her tears.

At first, Souji didn't know of what to do. He was clueless about the situation. He finally sighed and patted their heads. "There, there, don't cry."

They finally released their hold and got back up to their feet. Souji then looked at everyone and smiled. "Hello guys, sorry I didn't tell you all about when I'm coming here."

"It's okay, Souji. Nanako here told us about it this morning." Yosuke patted Nanako's head and it made her smile.

"Yeah, it's alright Souji-kun." Chie added.

"We missed you, you know." Yukiko, who was almost crying, walked towards him and hugged him with all her might.

Souji was stunned as she hugged him. He then replied her hug by hugging her too, making her tears flowing from her eyes.

"It's alright, Yukiko." he said to her as he placed his head on hers.

Everyone was awed by the scenery. Yosuke started whistling at them, making the two conscious of what they were doing. Both of them let go of the hug and blushed madly, making the crowd grew wilder as they teased them.

After the event, they talked together about what they're going to do for Souji's welcoming party. Chie suggested them to eat at Junes, with Yosuke paying the bills. Yosuke rejected the idea because he didn't want to have to pay for these guys. He didn't really have much money anyway. Rise then proposed to have a cooking party for dinner. It received a well response from the female part, but the guys didn't really want to do it. Chie forced them and they finally agreed to do it.

They decided to went to Junes first and do some shopping for the ingredients they would need for tonight. Souji decided to stay at the house as he was still tired from his trip. He played with Nanako until the evening.

When Nanako was watching the TV, Souji thought about his meeting with a suspicious person last night. Yosuke opened the house abruptly, snapping Souji from his thoughts.

"Hey, partner! Whatcha doin there? And Hello there Nanako-chan!" the brunette said cheerfully.

"It's nothing, Yosuke. I'm just thinking of something." Souji replied with a smile on his face.

"Hi there Yosuke Onii-san." Nanako replied Yosuke's greeting.

"So… Where are the girls and the other two?" Souji continued.

"Kanji and Teddie are still in Junes, escorting our ladies. They're still shopping to make dinner tonight. A…haha…" Yosuke answered and continued with a nervous laugh. "I hope they won't make what I think they are gonna make tonight… Urgh…"

Souji imagined what the girls are going to make tonight. He shivered as he imagined the 'Mystery Food X' that the girls made the last time they cooked together. It haunted him again and again whenever he thought of it.

Souji and Yosuke decided to wait for the others as they watched the TV together with Nanako. An hour later, they arrived, bringing a lot of plastic bags full of ingredients for the girls to cook their dinner.

"Hi there everyone!" Nanako greeted them.

"Ooohh! Hello there, Nanako-chan!" A brunette girl answered. "You look cute today! Anyway, Yosuke didn't do anything weird to you while we weren't here, did he? Because I swear, if he ever did anything weird to you, Nanako-chan, I'll beat him to death!" the green dressed girl exclaimed while clenching her fist.

"WHAT? I didn't do anything to her, Chie! Don't accuse me of doing anything weird! Souji was here too all this time. You can ask him if you want the proof. I swear I didn't do anything weird, okay Chie!" Yosuke, the man in charged, retorted.

"Alright, alright. Everyone please calm down and wait inside the living room! We, the girls, are going to make our dinner. So just wait patiently, okay!" the woman with the red hair band instructed them.

"Why do I have to do this too?" a small young woman with a blue hair said to herself and groaned.

"Oh, come on, Naoto-chan. It's going to be fun, you know!" said the girl with a wavy brunette hair to the blue haired woman, named Naoto.

"I'm not so sure about this, Rise-san." Naoto said with a doubtful voice.

"Oh, stop using honorifics for my name, okay Naoto-chan! We are at the same age you know. Anyways, it'll be a lot of fun I tell ya." the girl replied with a huge grin.

"Okay okay, I give up, Rise-chan. Let's start helping them in the kitchen."

Rise then smiled after she heard what Naoto had just said. She then grabbed Naoto's hand and pulled her (okay now you know what's her gender : P) to the kitchen.

"I'll help them too in the kitchen, okay Onii-san?" Nanako asked her so called brother, Souji.

Souji just nodded at that and she left to the kitchen.

The boys were left in the living room with nothing to do except watching the TV. Soon, they got bored with it. Souji then told the boys to get to his room to wait there while playing cards or reading magazines he had. They all agreed and went to his room. Before going up, he told Nanako to call them once the food was done. Nanako nodded and smiled to his Onii-san. She then went back to the kitchen to help the girls a bit.

* * *

.

At Souji's room

* * *

"Now, what should we do? I don't want to eat their food ya know, I don't want to be hospitalized because eating the 'Mystery Food X'." Yosuke uttered.

"Well me neither, senpai. But what can we do?" Kanji asked.

"I suppose we should just wait and see what they're gonna make. Maybe it won't be that dangerous to eat. It has been more than half a year since they last cooked for us anyway. I hope they have gotten better at cooking." Souji replied with a slight worry in his voice.

"I don't care of what they're gonna cook. I'll eat all of them-kuma." Teddie said with a carefree tone.

"Then Teddie, would you eat my share of the meal?" Yosuke asked with a grin.

"I don't know… I'll eat your share if I'm still hungry after finishing my share first, okay Yosuke-kun?" he answered.

Yosuke then sighed a bit and hoped that Teddie would be able to eat his share. Suddenly, Yosuke's face became bright as he gets an idea.

"Hey, why don't we play jan-ken-pon to decide who's gonna get the first bite of the food?" he asked, grinning.

"That's… a good idea, Yosuke." Souji said smiling.

"Yeah, the loser will have to eat them first. No backing down!" announced Kanji who had stands up.

"I'm okay with that-kuma."

"Okay then, let's do this!" pumped his fist into the air.

"Jan! Ken! Pon!" Everyone said together. Souji was the lucky guy. He won the first round with a rock. The others were scissors. So he will be the last one to eat the food.

"Jan! Ken! Pon!" Teddie won the second round, leaving Kanji and Yosuke to battle for their life. Teddie will the third one to taste the food.

"Just let me win, Kanji-kun. I beg you! Please please please please please let me win! I don't want to be the first one to be dead." Begged Yosuke to Kanji, but Kanji didn't seem to bother with his begging and just did the jan ken pon. Both of them were shaking, afraid that they'll lose and has to be the first one to be sacrificed.

'_Think, Yosuke! Think! What should I do to win this round? Come on… Come on…_' Yosuke's suddenly had an imaginary light bulb floating on his head as he smiled mischievously.

"Jan! Ken! Pon!"

"LOOK! A UFO!" Yosuke shouted suddenly, making Kanji distracted and looked at the window behind him.

"What? Where? Where is it? Where's the UFO?" Kanji panicked, not aware that he was cheated by Yosuke.

"YESSSSSSS!" Yosuke jumped into the air as he won the last round, but with a cheap trick.

Souji just shooked his head, bemused by what he had just seen. How could Kanji fell for such a cheap trick?

'_Well, whatever_.' he thought to himself.

"Wait a second, senpai! You tricked me! I want a rematch!" Kanji said feeling irritated.

"No way! I won't do the rematch. I won it. You'll be the first one to try the food, Kanji!" Yosuke refused.

Kanji then got up to his feet and stand in front of Yosuke. "Let's do a rematch!" his voice getting louder.

"No way!" Yosuke still refused.

Kanji then moved to Souji's desk and grabbed a chair. He brought it up to his head, ready to hit it to Yosuke's head. "R-E-M-A-T-C-H!" he said to Yosuke with a killing intent.

"W-w-w-wait! Don't hit me with that!" Yosuke begged Kanji. "Okay okay! I'll do the rematch, Kanji-kun!" Yosuke gave up as he saw Kanji's face. (Try to imagine Kanji's face was dark with a glowing pair of golden eyes, like a shadow and some kind of smokes coming out from his mouth)

Both of them then stood up and redo the jan ken pon.

"Jan! Ken! Pon!"

It looked like that luck was not on Kanji's side today. Yosuke had won the game. '_It's a miracle'_ Souji thought as he sweat dropped.

"I won?" Yosuke said with a disbelieved face. "I really won? Yeah, baby!" Yosuke pumped his fists into the air.

"Great. Now I'm gonna be the first one to be dead by their food." Kanji grumbled. "Guess this is not my lucky day, huh."

"Now Kanji-kun, you better stick to the deal we have made or something bad will happen to you." Yosuke grinned evilly to Kanji. Now it was Kanji's turn to be frightened by Yosuke's face. He just nodded to his senpai.

…

Forty minutes passed and there was no call from Nanako. The boys were starting to get anxious as to what were the girls making.

"Remember our deal, okay guys?" Yosuke reminded them. Everyone just nodded, except Kanji, who was sitting in the corner of the room, consulting

All of a sudden, the door was knocked quite loud that Yosuke jumped into Kanji's hand. Nanako peered into the room and giggled when she saw Yosuke clinging onto Kanji. The other soon started to laugh as well. Kanji then threw Yosuke to the floor. A sound of 'thud' could be heard.

Nanako told them to come down because dinner was ready. She then left the room with the boys following her from behind. They were heading to the living room where they're going to have their dinner.

When they were walking down the stairs, Yosuke started to smell something. "It… smells here." Yosuke said as he coughed.

"Um… You're right Senpai, It really does smells. Could it be… ?" Kanji's eyes were widened when he was thinking about where the smell came from.

"No. Way." Yosuke uttered with disbelief when he saw the foods that were prepared on the table.

"Excuse me, Yukiko-san, but… what did you guys make?" Kanji asked the woman in red.

"We made curry, omelet, salad, and pudding for us. I hope you guys will like it." Yukiko smiled to the boys.

"Okay…" Souji said while staring at the food on the table. He was shocked when he saw the so called 'curry' that the girls made. It looked nothing like what curry should be. A black smoke could be seen forming above it. Yosuke gulped as he saw it. Kanji's face darkened whilst smelling the bad odor in the room. On the other hand, Teddie was… drooling (?). Teddie's head was facing down.

"Um… Teddie, are you okay?" Kanji asked the blonde haired boy.

No response.

Suddenly a weird noise was came out of nowhere, surprising everyone as they heard it.

"What's that sound?" Chie asked looking confused.

The sound could be heard again.

"I think it's the sound of a snore." Naoto replied quickly.

"Where did it come from?" Yosuke tried to look for the source of the sound.

"It's coming from… Teddie?" Rise said aloud.

Teddie was asleep! Everyone stared at each other and then laughed together, waking Teddie up from his short nap.

"What are you guys laughing at?" Teddie asked while yawning.

"It's … nothing, Teddie." Naoto smiled. She has regained her composure while the others were still laughing a bit.

"Oh, okay then." Teddie shook it off and said, "I'm really hungry right now! It's making me losing my energy and it makes me really sleepy." Teddie explained to them.

Now the others had stopped laughing and started to calm themselves down.

"Okay guys, come sit over here so we can start eating! I'm hungry too." Rise called the boys.

"Right…" Kanji looked unwilling to seat there, but he finally gave up and sat beside Rise. The other boys followed him and seated themselves in their comfortable position. Teddie sat besides Naoto, Yosuke besides Chie, and Souji between Nanako and Yukiko.

"Let's eat! Itadakimasu!" Nanako said, readying her spoon.

"WAIT!" Kanji yelled, surprising everyone, except the boys. It was just like their deal. The first loser will have to get the first bite of the food.

"What's wrong Kanji onii-san?" Nanako asked with a frown.

"I'm sorry Nanako, but we don't want anything bad happened to you. Let me check if these are safe for you to eat first. We don't want you to be hospitalized again because of food *cough* poisoning." Kanji answered.

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean?" The girls replied angrily.

"Sorry, senpais" Kanji bowed his head and started to taste the curry. He took a spoonful of it and smelled it. His stomach growled as he did.

"Um… Okay, wish me luck guys." Kanji closed his eyes. "Here goes nothing."

Before Kanji could put it in his mouth, Teddie quickly snatched his spoon and eat it.

"Hey, Teddie! Why did you do that?" Kanji asked the blonde.

"I'm really hungryyy. By the way, it tastes delicious!" the blonde said to them.

"Really? I'll try it then…" Kanji took another spoon of the curry.

Kanji put it in his mouth and started to munch it.

"Wow, it's not so bad afterall. How bout you guys try some of it t…" he suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong Kanji?" Yosuke asked his kouhai.

All of a sudden, Kanji spurted out the food in his mouth into Yosuke's face.

"Kyaah!" the girls shrieked.

"AHHH! My eyes! My eyes are burning! Someone help!" Yosuke screamed like a little girl as he ran to the kitchen.

Kanji then fell to the floor. "On second thought… Don't- eat-it, senpai." he stated before he became unconscious.

"I'll move Kanji to my room and could someone please bring in a glass of water!" Souji announced quickly.

Souji then placed Kanji on his back and carried him to his room. Nanako brought him a glass of water for Kanji to drink when he has regained his consciousness. After that, they left Kanji sleeping inside Souji's room and headed back to the living room.

After the floor had been cleaned and Yosuke's eyes return to normal, they gathered again in the living room to continue their dinner.

"Okay, so now the curry is out of the questions. It's not edible enough for Nanako and us to eat. What did you girls put in there anyway?" Yosuke asked the girls.

"Um… We put in carrot, potato, an extra hot curry powder, chocolates, wasabi, red and green pepper, some mint leafs, flour, a cough syrup, and..."

"Right, you can stop explaining now, Chie-chan." Yosuke cut Chie off. "Are you trying to kill us by putting all those things, even a cough syrup in there?"

"I am not! I just think that it needs to be spicier, so I just added the peppers, and wasabi. I thought that putting the cough syrup will make it taste better. The cough syrup also contains mint flavor, you know!" Chie defended herself against Yosuke.

"Well, it is not right to put in medicine on food, okay Chie-chan?" Souji said to Chie. '_How did Teddie survive it anyway? That's… quite a stomach he has._' Souji thought.

"All right, Souji-kun." Chie nodded.

"Is it my turn now?" Yosuke said feeling depressed.

"Well, that's the deal. So just do it quickly Yosuke." Souji smiled.

"What deal?" Naoto asked her senpai.

"Oh, it's nothing, Naoto-chan." Yosuke tried to shrug it off.

The second dish was the Omelet.

"So… who made this?" asked Yosuke to the girls.

"It's me who made it! I bet it would be tasty!" the idol, Rise, chirped.

Yosuke got goose bumps when he heard that it was Rise who made the Omelet. He remembered how bad Rise's omelet was. Yukiko's cooking was fine, but Rise's? He knew that he won't survive and would be in the same state as Kanji. But a deal is a deal. He grabbed his spoon and quickly got a bite of it.

Instead of the food, he felt nothing when he put the spoon in his mouth. It turned out that this time Teddie also snatched Yosuke's spoon and ate it, just like how he did it to Kanji.

"Mm… It's tasty." Teddie said with a happy face.

"You sure, Teddie?" asked Yosuke with a slight hesitation on his face.

"Yep! 100% sure." Teddie assured him.

"All right then. I'll try it too." Yosuke then got another spoon of the omelet and put it in his mouth.

"It's… okay, I guess…" Yosuke said as he munched.

Something suddenly hit Yosuke. "Ugh, what's wrong with this? It's too salty! Could someone get me a glass of water and some sweets please?" Yosuke pleaded.

Nanako ran into the kitchen and got him a glass of water. She also brought some of the sweets that she had saved since she was a kindergartener.

"That's my saving, Yosuke onii-san. You better repay me for the candies, okay!" Nanako grinned to Yosuke. He then guzzled down the water and ate the candies that Nanako brought.

"All right all right. Thanks Nanako-chan." he thanked her. "Why is the omelet so salty?" Yosuke turned to the girls.

"Um, I thought that it would be tastier if it's saltier, so I added a lot of salt into it." Rise answered him. "I also added soy sauce into it."

"Wha…? There's no way that Nanako would be able to eat that. It's too salty!" Yosuke complained. Nanako looked at Rise who seemed really down and tried to taste her omelet.

She got a bite of it and her face turned a bit green. "It's… quite tasty, Rise onee-san" she noted.

"Really? Oh, thank you, Nanako-chan! You're a really good girl." Rise's face brightened again.

"You shouldn't have eaten the omelet, Nanako-chan." Souji told her as he removed the plate from the table. Again, Souji thought, '_Teddie sure has got a steel like stomach_.' as he went to the kitchen to clean the plate.

The omelet and curry had now been cleared out of the table, leaving only the salad and the pudding.

"It looks edible enough." Yosuke said while he checked the color and the smell of the salad.

"My turn!" Teddie chirped. He then grabbed his spoon and dug into the salad.

"Oh, wow! It's really good." Teddie commented.

Yosuke stared at Teddie, doubting his statement. He had learned his lesson as to not believe what Teddie said. He thought that Teddie's stomach was like Songoku's (from Dragon Ball :P) stomach.

"Are you really, Really, REALLY sure about that, Teddie?" Souji asked.

"Uh-huh. You'll like it, sensei." Teddie replied.

"Maybe Yosuke should try it first…" Souji said while looking to Yosuke who was shocked to hear that statement coming from his partner.

"Wait a minute, I have already done my part. It's your turn now partner." Yosuke countered.

"Oh, come on Yosuke, I still feel tired from the trip to here. I don't want to spend the new years in my bed." Souji defended.

Yosuke thought of it for a minute and he finally gave up. "Alright, alright. I'll try it first. But you owe me one, you got that, Souji."

"Yeah, thanks, Yosuke." he smiled to his partner.

"Bring it on, Teddie!"

"Okay! Here you go, Yosuke-kun." Teddie gave Yosuke the plate. Yosuke quickly ate the salad but as soon as he put it in his mouth, he felt something terrible.

"Urgh, it tastes bitter." Yosuke criticized. "You lied to me, Teddie! Why did you tell me that it was good? It's really bitter!"

"Really, Yosuke-kun? I thought the bitter taste is quite nice." Teddie grinned.

'_The hell, Teddie's tongue and stomach are really made of steel_' Souji sweat dropped as he thought that. '_Maybe it's because he's a shadow?_'

Nanako suddenly grab a bite of the salad, and once more, her face turned green.

"I think… i-i-it's quite delicious, Yukiko onee-san." Nanako complimented.

"Why, thank you, Nanako-chan. I guess these guys don't know how good food tastes." Yukiko smiled then glared to the boys.

"I'll finish the salad!" Teddie stated as he started chomping down the salad.

Everyone sweat dropped when they see how Teddie ate it all without choking one bit.

Now it was only the pudding that's left. It was still in the fridge, waiting to be eaten.

"Where's the pudding?" Nanako asked. "Is it still in the fridge?"

"I'll bring it out." Naoto answered as she got up and went to the kitchen.

A few seconds after that, she came back to the living room with the pudding on her hand.

"There you go. I made this myself, but… I'm not really confidence with the taste." she stated as her face blushed.

"I'll try it first then." Souji grabbed a spoon from the table but before he could eat it, the blue haired girl cut him. "Oh, I almost forgot. Don't eat it yet senpai. You'll need the dressing if you want to eat it, or it will taste plain. "

Souji stopped and Naoto ran back into the kitchen to get the dressing in the fridge.

"Here you go." She said while giving the dressing to the pudding. It looked tempting now. Yosuke was drooling over it. Teddie was… still like before, calm, but full of ominous on his face. Before Nanako was allowed to eat it, Souji had to try it first, to make sure it wasn't *cough* poisoned *cough*.

He brought up his spoon and put the pudding in his mouth. He felt his tongue dancing as the pudding melted in his mouth.

"Deeelicious!" he stated to them. "You should try it Nanako-chan."

"All right!" Nanako ate the pudding heartily. "This tastes great! You're really good, Naoto Onee-san.

"Let me try it." Chie tried a bit of it. She then smiled widely when she had finally tasted the sweetness of it. "It really is good! Naoto-chan you should teach us, girls, sometimes."

"Gosh! This is tasty, Naoto-chan." Rise chirped as she tasted the pudding. "Please teach me how to make this, Naoto-chan."

"You're right. It's melting in my mouth. It tastes great!" Yukiko added.

Naoto blushed as they praised her. "Thank you, every one."

"Souji, you ass! You decided to be the last one to taste the meal because you know this was going to happen? Damn it! That's not fair!" Yosuke complained to Souji, who was grinning to him. "Me and Kanji have suffered from the others 'Mysterious Food X'. But you, you got to enjoy the best meal they made. That makes my heart ache."

"Oh, come on Yosuke. It wasn't that bad, or is it?" Souji responded.

"Darn it. I had better get more of the pudding before it's cleaned by the girls. And you owe me one Souji!" the brunette said as he moved to the table to eat more of the pudding that Naoto made.

Souji smiled as he saw the scenery in front of him. He really missed this since he left the town, 9 months ago. But now, he had come back and gathered with them. He thought that something was missing but he shrugged it off and ate the pudding with his friends.

Meanwhile in Souji's room….

Kanji was having a nightmare. He was screaming in his sleep.

"No! Not that! Please! Anything but that! Don't do it! Stop! No! NO! NOOOOO!"he clutched his chest.

What happened in his dream? Well we will leave it to your imagination.

…

After the party ended, Souji went back to his room to get some rest. It was already 11 P.M. by the time they had finally finished. Kanji was sent home along with Yosuke. The girls walked together, accompanied by Teddie, because it's already late at night.

Souji changed his clothes into his pajamas. He then grabbed his jacket that he wore when he arrived here a day ago to look for his ID card and the picture of him and his friends.

He looked at them in his pocket. He didn't find it in the first pocket, or the second pocket, not even in the fifth pocket. He started getting panicked as he couldn't find them. He ended up looking for it in his belongings all night, until 4 A.M. He finally gave up and decided to rest for the day. He had a depressed face.

Present

"Where's Dojima-san? Did he get a call again?" Souji asked while chewing his food.

"Dad got a call this morning. He told me that he has to finish some crummy works. He said he'll be back before evening." the young girl said. "Are you going to go out after you finish your breakfast? If you do, then you can just leave the house to me. I don't have any plans for today so I'll just stay here. You can go and have fun with your friends, onii-san." she said with a grin.

Souji couldn't help but to be bemused by what she had just said. He decided to take her up on her offer and went out to the shopping district after he finished eating. He changed into his winter clothes before going out.

* * *

.

Inaba, Shopping District

December 28th, 2012

10:50 P.M

* * *

The silver haired young man was strolling down the Inaba's shopping district. He walked pass the stores that were lined there and greeted everyone he met. All of the people in Inaba had known him since his arrival last year. He was quite popular because of his kindness to the people around there and also, his handsomeness that has made some of the old ladies admired him. They would sometime tease him and make him blushes madly when he was walking alone along the shopping district with his 'girl' friend. Despite all of that, they're pretty nice to him, and Souji likes them too.

He walked pass the shopping district and saw a shrine. He remembered that one of his friend, Kitsune the fox, is living in the shrine. He decided to pray and visit the fox. As he climbed up the stairs, he could feel the afternoon breeze blowing through his skin.

He finally reached the shrine and quickly went to pray to the gods. After the prayer, he put some money to the offering box. The clattering sound of the coins he threw made the fox awoken from its' sleep. It quickly jumped down from the roof as soon as it smelled Souji's smell. It then howled happily and started nuzzling his feet. Souji smiled and patted its head. He decided to chat with it for a few moments before he left the shrine to his old school.

Souji strolled down the Samegawa flood plain as he went to Yasogami High. He met the oldman who gave him the fishing rod and advices on how to fish in the river. He also met the cat that he used to feed. The cat seemed to be very healthy now. It ran around in circle near a big tree that grew in the plain.

After walking for awhile, he arrived in front of the school gate.

'_Heh… It hasn't changed a bit since the last time I was here. But of course, it hasn't even been a year since I left this place. What am I thinking…'_ he thought as he checked the buildings from the outside.

His cell phone rand suddenly and startled him. He quickly grabbed it from his pocket. There was a message from Yosuke.

It said, "_Hey, Souji! Come to our old head quarter. We're going to have some talking. Everyone has already arrived here. We're waiting for you._"

'_What is it they want to talk about? I wonder…_' Souji shook his head and started walking to Junes to meet with his friends there.

* * *

.

.

A restaurant in central Tokyo

December 28th, 2012

6:34 P.M.

* * *

A red haired woman came into the restaurant. She wore a sleeveless white turtle neck shirt and a dark brown pair of pants. Her crimson hair was loosened and gleaming brightly as he the room's lighting shone on her. She was searching for a certain someone inside the restaurant.

"Hey, that's Mitsuru-senpai! Over here, senpai!" Junpei yelled while standing up and waving his hand to the woman.

She smiled when she saw her friends had already gathered on the table she had reserved. She walked to the table and seated herself on a vacant chair.

"Good evening, everyone." she said with a smile. "I'm really happy that you guys are able to make it here. I hope you guys are not angry at me for doing this so suddenly."

"No way, senpai! We should be thankful for you. We haven't seen each other since almost three years ago. I really missed you guys." Junpei replied.

"Well, yeah. Me too, senpai. This is really fun you know." Yukari said to the red haired woman.

"We should do this more often, senpai." Fuuka continued.

"I agree with that idea." Aigis, who had arrived with Ken and Koromaru 10 minutes ago, said to them.

"Woof! Woof!" Koromaru barked. "He said he agrees too." Aigis translated it.

"Me too!" Ken, the youngest of them, said.

"They're right Mitsuru." Akihiko smiled.

"I don't really care about this and I don't really want to do this stuff." Shinji commented.

"All right, all right. I'll do something about it for next year. As for you, Shinji, you MUST come with us even if you don't want to." Mitsuru answered and smiled.

"Ngh…" he groaned.

"I have a proposal for you guys right now. How about we spend our new years in a hot spring?"

"A hot spring? Really, senpai? Oh, man! That's cool!" Junpei jumped out of his chair and do a weird dance in front of them.

"Knock it off, Junpei!" Yukari yelled at him. "Chidori, stop him please."

Chidori nodded and said to Junpei, "Stop it now, Junpei-kun. Or else…"

"W-w-w-wait! I'll stop!" Junpei said as sweat was forming on his forehead.

"Wow, Chidori-san, you really know how to control Junpei-san." Ken praised her.

"Why, thank you, Ken-kun." she smiled to him.

"I would really love to go to a hot spring, senpai!" Fuuka uttered. "The last time I went to a hot spring was when we're on our trip to Kyoto."

"I guess that's not a bad idea. Do you have any place in mind, Mitsuru?" asked the silverette.

"Yes, I do. I've been thinking that maybe we should go to the Amagi inn. It's located in Yasoinaba. People called it the treasure of Inaba." Mitsuru answered.

"Oooh, I've heard about that place before." Ken cut in. "I heard that it has got a really nice hot spring."

"Tch! I'm not going there." Shinji said.

"Oh no you don't, you'll be coming with us, Shinji, whether you like it or not." Mitsuru said, releasing a killing aura from her back.

"Dang…" he said in defeat as he saw Mitsuru's face.

"So, when are we leaving?" Yukari asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon. It will be a 5 days and 4 night trip. I hope you guys could be ready before ten tomorrow. The train will be leaving at 10:45. You guys should get ready as soon as you came back home from here." Mitsuru suggested them. Everyone nodded after she said that.

"Here comes our food." she said as she saw the foods coming from the kitchen. "Let's finish our dinner quickly and go back to get ready for tomorrow's trip."

"All right!" Junpei grinned merrily.

After they finished their dinner, they chatted a little while before they went home to their own residence.

"Bye everyone!" Yukari waved at them and walked off with Aigis.

"Bye! See you guys tomorrow!" Ken said as he walked to the train station with Koromaru.

"Good night everyone. See you tomorrow morning!" Junpei left with Chidori.

"Night, guys." Akihiko walked quietly with Shinjiro and left the restaurant.

"Good bye everyone." Fuuka said to them and made her way to her apartment.

"Good night everyone. Have a nice rest." Mitsuru waved her hand and walked to her limousine. They all left with a smile on their face after they bid their farewells. They were excited because of tomorrow's trip and decided to pack quickly as soon as they arrived at their home. Tomorrow is going to be a pleasant day, they thought. The moon was shining its eerie light when they went to their separate ways.

* * *

.

.

Inaba, Junes Dept. Store

December 28th, 2012

1:15 P.M.

* * *

Seven people and a fox could be seen hanging around in Junes' food court. It seemed like they were waiting for someone to show up.

"Where's sensei-kuma?" the blonde boy said to the group.

"I've messaged him earlier, but he didn't reply to me yet." the boy wearing an orange headphone replied.

"Maybe… something bad happened to him?"

"No way, Rise-chan. He is a strong man. He's our leader. He should be okay by himself." the girl dressed in green athletic jacket commented.

They were arguing when Souji arrived there. He was speechless after he saw that they were quarreling with quite a loud voice.

"There he is!" Kanji shouted, making everyone turned their head to the direction he pointed his finger.

"Hi, guys." Souji replied and walked up to them.

"Sensei! I miss you!" Teddie ran towards him hugged him tightly.

"Ooof. I-can't-breath-Teddie." he muttered as he was crushed by Teddie's hug.

"Ooops, sorry sensei." Teddie grinned.

"So, what do you want to talk about, Yosuke-kun?" Souji asked the brunette boy.

"Okay guys, attention please!" Yosuke said to his friends. "Do you guys have any plans for this new year?"

"Um… I don't think I have anything to do at home." Chie answered.

"Me too." Yukiko replied.

"I think I'm gonna stay at home and help my mom a bit." Kanji explained.

"I don't have any plans for this new year yet." Naoto uttered.

"Me neither." Souji said.

"I don't have any work to do at new years, so I think I'm free to do anything at that day." Rise said and smiled to them.

"Teddie is going to stay in the TV world-kuma!" Teddie exclaimed.

"So, if you guys don't have anything to do, how about we go for a picnic in the TV world?" Yosuke suggested to them. Everyone thought about it for a second and started to smile.

"That's a good idea, Yosuke-senpai!" Rise chirped.

"Of course! After all, I'm a genius." he grinned.

The fox howled, as if it agreed to go with them to the TV world.

"All right then. That settles it. We're going to the TV world on January 1st after we visited the shrine in the afternoon." Souji said to the group.

"Okay, sensei! I'll find a good place for us to have a picnic there-kuma!" Teddie smiled widely.

"So, what should we do now?" Chie asked.

"How about we go to Souji's house and play with Nanako?" Yukiko offered.

"Well, I'm okay with that. As long as Nanako's happy." Souji responded.

"Okay then. Let's go to senpai's house!" Rise squealed.

The group left the food court and went to Souji's house. They played together with Nanako until the night had fallen. They bid their farewells and went to their home, leaving Souji and Nanako in their house alone.

Inaba, Dojima's Residence

* * *

.

.

December 28th, 2012

7:10 P.M.

* * *

"Dinner's ready, Onii-san!" Nanako called her brother.

"Okay, Nanako-chan." he replied.

Souji got up to his feet and went to the table. As he sat on the chair, the front door opened, revealing a man wearing a blue uniform and a tie.

"I'm home, Nanako-chan, Souji-kun." he greeted them.

"Welcome home, Dad!" Nanako replied as she hugged him.

"Hello there, Dojima-san." Souji smiled. "Why don't you join us for dinner? Nanako made these by herself."

"All right, I'm already starving too anyway. Let's eat Nanako." he said and pushed Nanako to the table.

They ate their dinner happily, chatting as they did. Dojima asked Souji about how is his new school in Tokyo like. Souji explained what happened in his new school. They laughed together when Souji told them the funny things.

After finishing their dinner, Souji offered his help to Nanako, who was cleaning the table, to wash the dishes. Nanako accepted it and went straight to the living room after she finished wiping the table off and talked to her dad.

Souji stayed in the kitchen and washed the dishes while thinking about what he should make to be brought to the picnic. He thought that maybe bringing Nanako along would be a good idea.

He finished all of the dishes in 10 minutes and then he went to the living room to talk about bringing Nanako along to Dojima and Nanako. Dojima agreed about it and so did Nanako. She was very happy when his dad allowed her to go with Souji and his friends to the picnic. Although Souji didn't mention where he and his friends were going to have their picnic, Dojima seemed to have trusted him a lot that he didn't even asked where they are going. Souji just shrugged it off and told them his plan about the picnic.

It was getting late, Nanako was already sleepy. Dojima sent her of to her room and he went to take a bath, leaving Souji alone in the living room. He watched the TV for a few minutes before he decided to head back to his room and get some sleep.

* * *

.

Souji's room

9:30 P.M

'_I should really get some rest_' thought him.

Souji changed into his pajamas before he went to his bed and slept. He was tired. As soon as his head touched the pillow, he fell asleep.

* * *

.

.

Velvet room

Unknown time

* * *

"Welcome back, my dear guest." a voice that was familiar to Souji could be heard, waking Souji up from his sleep.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a long nosed man, sitting in front of him. He was quite surprised because he didn't expect to see his old friend again, Igor. "Long time no see, Igor. What business do you have with me now?" he said with a straight face.

"And what's with this room? Why is it different from the one I was in a couple of months ago?"

The velvet room has changed its' form. It's different than the limousine that Souji was in 9 months ago. It's now a room filled with mirrors, fractured mirrors to be exact. They were scattered around the room that was shaped like a pentagon. They were projecting the image of the silver haired man, Souji himself.

In the middle was the desk that Igor used. To the left and in front of it were a velvet blue colored sofas. A huge coffin was hanging behind above Igor's chair. It's… floating and it was glowing with a blue greenish light. A soothing aura emanates from it, calming Souji's mind.

'_Is that… a coffin?_' his thought with a face full of curiosity.

Igor chuckled "You really are interesting, my boy. It seems that there's an ordeal waiting for you and you'll require my help again in the near future. Margareth will be taking care of you again." Igor smirked.

'_An ordeal?_ _First, my dream, and now this?_'

Margareth then appeared from behind Igor's seat.

"It's nice to see you again, Seta-san." she bowed to him.

"Good to see you again too, Margareth." Souji replied. "So Igor, what kind of ordeal is it that's waiting for me?"

"You'll see them soon enough, my boy." Igor smirked again. "It will be a one tough ordeal. You should prepare yourself. Your friends might be helpful to you again, so treasure them."

'…_. He didn't want to answer my question..._'

"Here's your new contract. The content is the same as the one that you had first signed almost a year ago." A paper appeared on the table across where Souji was sitting.

Before he signed the contract, he remembered about his dream a few days ago. He recalled about the boy with the striped shirt talking about Nyx. He decided to ask it to Igor.

"Igor, I have a question for you." he said.

"Go on." Igor smirked.

"Do you know something about… Nyx?"

Igor's smile grew wider. "Of course, I know about it. But I can't tell you regarding it now. You'll have to find out about it yourself."

Souji could only sigh and then signed the contract. The paper vanished as Igor motioned his hand.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here's the key to the velvet room." Igor gave Souji the key. "Make sure you don't lose it. Until then, farewell"

Souji nodded as flashes of light started to blinding him. Before his consciousness faded away from the room, he heard Igor said something, "Beware of the full moon, my boy."

* * *

.

.

Souji's Room

December 29th, 2012

8:07 A.M.

* * *

The silver haired man was still sleeping peacefully until he suddenly opened his eyes, revealing his silver eyes.

Souji looked at the clock in his desk. It showed 8:10 A.M. '_10 more minutes…_' Souji turned around in his bed, but something happened.

*THUMP*

Souji fell from his bed with face flat first. He didn't move for a few minutes. Souji finally rolled around as he was starting to suffocate from his position. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before he realized that something was in his hand. He raised his hand to only see the velvet key. He then rubbed his head and yawned.

'_So that wasn't just a dream… Tch, why me? Of all the people around, why am I chosen to do this? I don't want to involve my friends in this ordeal._" he thought while remembering what happened when they fought Izanami."_And what did Igor means when he told me to be aware of the full moon?_' he then put the velvet key on his table.

'_Guess it can wait. What should I do now… I still haven't find my ID Card and the picture they gave me_' Souji got up from the floor and went to check his belongings again. He tried to search for his ID card and the picture of him and his friends that were taken before he went back to the city. The picture was his treasured item. It reminds him of when they had finally uncovered the mystery of the serial killing that had happened in Inaba almost a year ago.

"Where the hell is it." he grumbled as he unpacked his belongings to find his items that were lost. As he got up to his feet and walked to the desk, he slipped on his own under wear that was lying on the floor and hit the tatami floor face first (again). A sound of 'thud' was heard from the outside of his room, startling Nanako who was watching the TV downstairs. She went upstairs to his room and asked him what happened. He shrugged it off by saying it was his bag that fell to the floor while rubbing his nose. Nanako believed him and left the room. She went back to the living room and continued watching the TV.

'_Phew, it wouldn't be funny if she knows what made the sound just now. It'll be too embarrassing for me._' Souji thought as he quickly grabbed the under wear that's lying on the floor and threw it to the corner of the room.

'_Man, I really need to clean up my room. It's so untidy._' he then started to clean every corner of his room in that entire day.

* * *

.

.

Thanks for reading guys...

Reviews please

hohoho ^o^


	3. Chapter 2

Okay, hello guys!

Sorry for not updating this fic for a long-long time..

Hu... Got to lazy typing these story down, even tho we have a great ideas for this story -_-

Well, enjoy this chapter first :D

Oops, almost forgot.

We own nothing in this fic except the story. All of the characters and places that we mentioned in this fic belongs to Atlus.

Go go go! Read this fic!

* * *

Renewed Contract

Chapter 2

* * *

The Revival

Unknown Place

Unknown Time

* * *

The sound of a beast roaring could be heard loudly in the darkness. A silver haired woman clad in blue was seen jumping to dodge something. A hand appeared from the mist and smashed the place where the woman once stood. A two headed beast came out from the darkness and roared to the woman. It seemed like she had provoked the beast to attack her.

She jumped again into the air as the beast's hand came down smashing the void floor. In the middle of the air, she drew a card from the book that she was holding.

"Helel!" she summoned a persona and ordered it to attack the beast. "Morning Star!"

A bright light formed above the beast and it bursts down a laser like beam, damaging the beast severely. It then went back into the darkness to hide and recover itself again.

The woman landed on the floor swiftly and put the card she had taken back to the book. She sighed. She was sweating quite a bit.

"Phew, this is taking quite long. I need to finish this quickly and release him from this place. I can't waste my energy too much or it won't be sufficient for the ritual." the woman said to herself as she wiped the sweat of her face. She looked at the door behind her and smiled to the statue that was being chained in the center of it.

"Wait for me, okay? I'll make sure to finish this up as quickly as possible." she said again.

She then felt a chill ran down through her spine. A black energy ball came out of nowhere, startling the woman. She didn't react fast enough that it exploded on the ground in front of her. The shockwave sent her flying near the door.

"Ouch, that hurts you know. Don't use dark embrace like that!" she stated as she got back up to her feet and cleaned the dusts that are stuck to her blue dress.

"Let's finish this, Erebus." smirking, she ran towards the beast and leaped into the air. She drew another card from her book.

"Satan! Megidolaon!" she summoned another persona and attacked the beast with a giant purple energy ball.

…. (And so the fight went on)

* * *

Inaba, Junes Dept. Store

December 31st, 2012

3:55 P.M.

* * *

"Hmm… Which one should we buy?" asked the woman wearing a red sweater to her group as she picked up two bottles of sauce from the rack. "The spicy one, or the sweet one? What do you think, Chie-chan?"

"I think the spicy one is better, don't you think so, Rise-chan?" Chie answered.

"The sour one would be better!" Rise commented and picked up a bottle of sour sauce from the rack.

"I think the sweet one is good enough." Yukiko remarked as she put the spicy sauce back to the rack.

"Guys, let's just pick one and go to the next corner. It has taken quite a long time now. The boys are going to get bored." Naoto said to them after seeing how the boys were doing.

Souji, Yosuke, and Kanji were starting to get irritated because it has been an hour since they came to the store.

"Man… What the hell are they doing anyway? This is taking too long. I want to go home and watch the TV!" Yosuke complained.

"Just bear with it, Yosuke." Souji retorted. "Hm? Where's Kanji?"

Kanji disappeared from them. It happened in a blink of an eye. Yosuke and Souji started to look for him.

"There he is! What's he doing in the… household corner?" Yosuke stumbled as he saw Kanji holding a knitting needle. Souji wasn't expecting this and was speechless.

"Hm... What should I buy? This one is good, but… this one is more fit in my hand." Kanji mumbled and picked another one of the needle.

"Okay… I know that Kanji's got some odd hobby for a man, but this is just… too weird." Yosuke said as he went to get close to Kanji. Souji followed him from behind while sighing.

"Hey there, Kanji." Souji's greeting surprised Kanji and he immediately put the needles back to the rack.

"O-oh, i-i-it's not what you think, senpai." Kanji stammered, trying to deny what just happened.

"It's alright, Kanji-kun. It's alright." Yosuke tried to calm him. "We all know that you have that 'kind' of hobby." Yosuke snickered. It made Kanji mad.

"What's that, SENPAI?" Kanjis eyes were glowing and his mouth were emitting smokes as he said that. The same kind of expression he had when Yosuke cheated on him, four days ago.

"O-o-okay, Kanji-kun. Forget what I just said and calm down." Yosuke panicked.

Souji was now chuckling after seeing what happened. His attempt to stop his laughter didn't work. He then decided to move out from the sight of Kanji. He didn't want to be caught in the riot that was going to happen.

Before Kanji could do something to Yosuke, the girls came to them.

"What are you guys doing?" Naoto asked.

Kanji was awoken from his enraged state after hearing Naoto's voice. He then started to blush madly and turned his face around.

"It's nothing." he said feeling embarrassed.

Yosuke sighed in relief as he was saved from being injured badly. Souji smiled at that and came out from his hiding place to talk to them.

"So, are you guys finished yet?" he asked the girls who were piling stuffs into their trolley.

"I guess we are. Let's pay this in the cashier." Chie pushed the trolley to the cashier.

The others then followed her. They paid their groceries and went back to Yukiko's house. On the way there, Yosuke came up with a plan again.

"Hey guys! Why don't we stay at Yukiko's place for three days after our picnic ends?" he suggested as he ran to the front of the group who were walking.

They thought for it awhile before Yukiko responded.

"Well, I'm okay with that. You are all welcomed to stay at my place. After all, you are my friends." she smiled.

"Is it alright to do that, Yukiko-senpai?" the blue haired girl asked.

"Yeah, I mean, are we really allowed to sleepover at your place?" Chie looked hesitating.

"It's alright guys. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind you guys staying over at my place." Yukiko answered their questions.

"Besides, she would be too busy to be angry at us if we made some noises because we've got a group of people coming to our inn three days ago." Yukiko continued as she walked in front of them, switching place with Yosuke. "I heard one of them is the so called Mitsuru Kirijo, the Director of the famous Kirijo Group. My mom said they were staying here for five days to celebrate the new years."

"Kirijo? As in, Mitsuru Kirijo? I'm a fan of her! I've seen her on the TV countless time since the past few months. She is said to be a very polite and graceful woman." Yosuke rattled.

"Well, I've seen her in the TV a few weeks ago. She said she was going to donate a quarter of their company's money for Japan's educational facility. She also promotes the school they managed, Gekkoukan High School, which we had visited a year ago." Kanji joined in the conversation.

"Is she really that great?" Chie sounded confused.

"What? You don't know about her? Have you ever watched the TV Chie?" Yosuke teased her.

"Of course I do!" she retorted back with a blushing face.

"Yeah, but you only watch the cooking program and bruce lee's movie. Not the news." Yosuke added mockingly.

WHAM!

Yosuke was now rolling on the floor, holding his crotch as Chie hit him in his balls. He cried a silent cry.

"That will teach you to not tease me again." Chie turned around and went on ahead.

"You alright, Yosuke?" Souji bent down to see his friend's conditions.

"I think I'll survive…" he replied while still trying to endure the pain.

The girls then walked ahead to catch up with Chie, leaving the guys behind. They were waiting for Yosuke to recover from the attack that Chie did to his "thing".

"I'm alright now… I think." Yosuke stated as he tried to get back up to his feet.

"Don't push yourself too hard, you might want Kanji to piggyback you to your house. What do you say, Kanji?" Souji suggested and smirked to Kanji.

"Okay, I'm good!" Yosuke then straighten his back, trying to hide his pain.

Souji grinned as he saw his best friend walked funnily because of the pain in his lower body. Kanji was clueless on what happened between the two. He shrugged it off and followed them.

They finally arrived at an intersection and went to their separate ways to go home.

"See you guys tomorrow morning!" Souji waved his good bye to them.

Souji went back to his house and was greeted by Nanako and Dojima. They had dinner together and chatted about the picnic tomorrow. Nanako was really excited for it and decided to sleep earlier so that she could wake up early tomorrow morning. After the dinner, Souji washed the dishes while Dojima escorted Nanako to her room. Dojima then left to take a bath.

Souji who had finished cleaning the dishes thought the same thing as Nanako and he went to his room. He changed into his pajamas and slept as soon as he reached his bed.

Before Souji went to sleep, he looked through the window and saw the moon. It was a full moon.

'_Tonight's a full moon… I wonder what did Igor means when he told me to be aware of the full moon._' he thought while trying to get a good position for him to sleep. '_Nah, I'll just go to sleep now. I need to be ready for tomorrow's picnic anyway._' With that, he went to sleep.

* * *

Amagi Inn, Dining Room

December 31st, 2012

11:40 P.M.

* * *

"Stop that, Stupei!" the brunette girl yelled at her friend who was wearing a baseball cap and doing some acrobat. He was trying to balance a plate on top of a long stick. "Someone will get hurt, you idiot."

"Whoa!" the man said as he almost dropped the plate to Fuuka's head. He recovered his balance and said, "Relax, Yuka-tan. I'm quite professional in doing this kind of thing." confidentially.

"Yeah, right… You almost dropped it onto Fuuka's head." Shinji pointed out.

"It was just a small accident." Junpei retorted with an annoyed kind of face.

"Now, now, Junpei-kun. You shouldn't be rude to your senpai." Chidori prompted him. "I'm sorry for his action just now, Aragaki-senpai."

"Tch. Whatever." Shinji shrugged it off.

"It's alright, Junpei-kun." Fuuka tried to calm Junpei down who was a bit upset.

"Now that you've learnt your lesson, you shouldn't do that again, okay Junpei-kun?" Mitsuru said, threateningly.

Feeling the deadly aura coming from his senpai, Junpei gave up and sit down to continue eating the food that was still on his plate.

They were having a party until midnight to celebrate the new years. The S.E.E.S. members were having quite a good time talking about how they are doing in their life.

…

* * *

11:56 P.M.

* * *

"It's getting quite late, isn't it?" the youngest of them said and yawned. "I still can't get this habit of sleeping after midnight off…"

The albino dog which was also with them, yawned too, following Ken. Shinji then scratched Koromaru's neck and finally yawned, unable to hold his tiredness.

"It's time for your awakening, Minato-sama. I'm going to release you from this place." Elizabeth said as she took out a card from her compendium. "Come forth, Messiah!"

She summoned a persona which body was white and was bringing coffins behind it.

"Well, well, well, aren't you cheating? To be able to summon that persona that is." A voice came out of the darkness.

"I know it's you, Ryoji, or should I call you '_Death'_?" she replied it with a calm voice.

Orbs of darkness began to accumulate in the thin air near Elizabeth, materializing as a human figure.

"Hello there Elizabeth. It's nice to meet you." the figure smiled to her.

"Guess you too, huh, Shinji?" Akihiko commented when he saw his old pal did the same as Ken and Koromaru.

"Like you're one to talk, Aki. You had tears on your eyes. Those were from your yawning." Shinji pointed out.

* * *

"So, it has finally begun…" the long nosed man said as he saw the coffin that was floating in the velvet room starting to shatter and glow a bright bluish green light. "I hope you'll be safe, Elizabeth."

"Don't worry, master. She's not that weak of a girl, you know. She is my sister after all." a woman with a long curly silver hair who was sitting on the couch stated.

"I think she'll be okay, master." a man with a short silver hair appeared from the door that appeared suddenly beside Igor. "She should be able to handle this thing without any problem."

Igor then chuckled after hearing what his servants had said to him. "I have no doubt that she will certainly come back here alive. Fu fu fu…"

* * *

"Yeah… I think we all need to get some rest. After all, there's still tomorrow, right?" Akihiko replied.

"That's a good idea, Akihiko." Mitsuru remarked him. "Let's get some rest everyone. Tomorrow we're going to tour the town and buy some souvenirs."

"I'm going to need your help, Ryoji. I need the power of _death_ to do the procedures." Elizabeth requested him.

"Well, what should we do, Pharos?"

Another figure of a young boy came out of the darkness and said, "You know it, right, Ryouji?"

"Heh… You're right." he replied before turning into the persona, Thanatos. "I can't become the avatar of Nyx right now. I guess this form will do."

"Thank you, Ryouji." she thanked him and turned her back to them to face the door. "Erebus has been immobilized for only an hour. We should do this quickly before it came back."

"You do know the risk that you're taking right, Elizabeth?" Pharos questioned her with a curious face.

"Of course, I do. I didn't come here without any resolution, you know." she smiled to the two guys.

"Guess you really do loved him. Heh…" Ryouji chuckled.

* * *

Junpei then got up to his feet and stretched his hands up. "Mh… I'm really tired. I'm going back to my room first, okay." he told them as he walked to the sliding door. "Chidori-chan, you should head back to your room with Fuuka. You two are in the same room, right?" he asked to Chidori.

"Yep, don't worry about me, Junpei-kun. Just go to your room and get some rest." the woman in charge answered.

"Alright. I guess it's time for us to return to our room then." Yukari uttered and stood up.

Everyone then started standing up as they prepared to leave the room to get some good night sleep.

* * *

"Aren't you two the same? For the arcana shadow of _death_ to be reviving a human from his deep slumber. You really have lost your title as the most terrifying shadow." she replied.

"Fu fu fu…" Pharos chuckled, "We don't really care about that title anyway. What we want to do now is to unseal his soul from this place and revive him to the human world."

"So, where's his 'body'? Did you bring it here, Elizabeth?" Ryoji asked her with Thanatos' deep voice.

Messiah, which was called by Elizabeth earlier, glowed, and in front of it, a coffin materialized as the particle of light began to shine brighter and brighter in every second. It finally materialized fully and showed a pure white coffin with some golden ornate around it. A golden cross was carved in front of it, glowing its' majestic light.

"Here it is. This is his body which I took a few hours after his burial. I made sure I put it in a way that it won't rot away by using some of my power." she explained.

"M-hm…" Pharos nodded. "Now that the parts are gathered, let's start the procedure."

Elizabeth and Ryouji nodded in agreement and went to their assigned place. Elizabeth positioned herself in front of the giant door, while Thanatos was behind her, preparing to recite a spell.

Elizabeth's body started to glow in the color of purple after Thanatos started to read some sort of magic spell. A purple light radiated from beneath Elizabeth, forming a magic circle. It grew bigger as Thanatos read more of the spell. A ball of purplish blue light materialized in front of her. The ball grew bigger and intensified as the magic circle expanded. It finally stopped growing after Ryouji finished with the spell.

"That's quite some power you've got there, Elizabeth." Pharos praised her after seeing the energy ball that was now floating and glowing brightly in the air.

"Thank you… Pharos." she said with an exhausted look. "This would be sufficient enough to replace his life force and become the seal for a year or so."

Thanatos then laughed with an evil voice, "This is interesting." he commented. "I'll take out his soul. After I do that, you should immediately throw your power that you've gathered to the door so that it will be closed before Nyx could get out from it."

"Alright." Elizabeth answered with a nod.

"Here we go…" Thanatos leaped to the air and flew to the statue.

* * *

"Well hello there, my dear guest. Good evening." Igor greeted his visitor who appeared to be Souji.

"Hi, Igor. Good evening to you too. Now what's the problem for calling me at a time like this?" he asked while yawning.

Igor grinned and gave Souji the answer, "I have a request for you tonight. You'll soon meet some people, who will need your help. Amongst them, there's a young man, just like you. I hope that you'll help that person and his friends. That's all for my request."

Souji was about to opened his mouth to ask Igor about the group, but he changed his mind, knowing Igor's habit to not answering questions specifically. "Alright then, Igor."

"Thank you for your agreement. Now, off you go. Time's marching in your realm." Igor replied.

Before Souji's mind blanked, he saw that the coffin inside the Velvet Room earlier had disappeared. He wondered where it could have gone to.

* * *

Ryouji pulled out a blue colored light from the statue and the statue then dissolved, leaving the chains loose. The gigantic door then started opening. Dark mists oozed out from beyond the door followed by the sounds of misery of the dead. It was a horrifying scene to see what lies beyond the giant door. It is the only thing that prevents the death to come over the world of the living.

Elizabeth took a quick glance to what lies beyond the door before she swiftly threw the energy ball she had gathered earlier to it to prevent the door from opening and sealing it in the process.

She fell on her knees, looking exhausted, but with a happy feeling inside her heart. Ryouji moved to the coffin that was summoned by Messiah and hurriedly put what seems to be the soul of Minato into it. The coffin then shone brightly, blinding the void space and suddenly, it was gone.

* * *

When the clock finally reach the number XII, the electricity in the inn was suddenly out, alarming the S.E.E.S. member.

"Hey! What the hell happened here?" Junpei, who was already out of the door, was surprised as the lights lighting the hallway were out. He quickly ran back inside the room.

* * *

"So, do you have any idea on where it's gone to, Elizabeth?" Pharos asked, smirking.

"I think I do…" she answered confidently.

Ryouji returned back to his human form and sighed. "That took quite a lot of my power. I'm gonna need some rest for a couple of days." he said cheerfully. "We should bring you back to that place first, I think."

"Thank you, Ryouji, Pharos." Elizabeth smiled before collapsing to the ground in front of Ryouji.

* * *

"Why is there a black out at this kind of time?" Junpei yelled.

Just as he said that, Shinji got surprised as stepped on a pool of blood. "The hell? What's with these liquid? Blood?" Shinji said abruptly when he saw some of the blood dripped from the wall.

* * *

Ryouji then grabbed her from the floor and piggybacked her. He then started walking through the darkness space.

"We thank you too, Elizabeth, for rescuing our other self." Pharos smiled and followed Ryouji.

"Let's get out of here quickly before Erebus comes back, Pharos." Ryouji uttered as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, let's go." Pharos replied.

The both of them then vanished from the place…

* * *

"Everyone! Look at the sky!" Fuuka warned the team.

The sky's moon was glowing with an eerie green light, signalling the return of the _Dark Hour_.

"What the hell happened? This can't be happening?" Akihiko stated with an unbelieving look.

"It's the _Dark Hour_! Why is this happening again?" Mitsuru said.

"How can this be…?" Aigis frowned. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Don't tell me… Have the seal been broken?" Yukari seemed really shocked.

"Arf! Arf!" Koromaru barked as he sensed someone else's presence other than the team who was actively moving towards them.

"Everyone, please be careful! Koromaru sensed something that's coming this way." Aigis notified them.

They immediately grabbed things that can be used as a weapon and readied themselves to attack the intruder. Junpei grabbed Chidori and hid her behind him. She didn't have a clue as to what's happening.

The door was suddenly opened, revealing a woman's figure. The guys almost charged at her but they stopped as soon as they realized who the figure was. It was Yukiko Amagi, the daughter of the owner of the Amagi Inn. She was quite stunned as she was almost got hit by Akihiko's punch in the face.

"I-I'm sorry, Amagi-san." he apologized to her.

Yukiko who was still a bit dazed just nodded and told them, "I'm sorry, it seems like the electricity is out. I'll check on the power box in the back of the building to see if there is anything wrong with it. Please wait here."

"Wait Amagi-san!" Mitsuru yelled at Yukiko who was already walking out of the room. She then stopped and looked back with a quizzical face. "What's wrong, Kirijo-sama?"

"Well, um… I… don't think that it's safe to walk around in this kind of darkness." Mitsuru tried to convince her as to not move around too much because there might be something like the shadows that are creeping in the darkness. "You should wait here with us. It's safer here."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea to walk alone at a time like this." Fuuka tried to assure Yukiko. "You should stay here for awhile."

"Oh, I'm really grateful for the offer, but I think I'll only be bothering you guys if I stay here." Yukiko bowed and turned around to leave them.

"Aigis, please secure her." Mitsuru ordered the humanoid woman android with a low voice.

"Understood." Aigis responded.

Just as Aigis almost grabbed her hand and made her unconscious, the lights turned back on, which surprised the S.E.E.S. members.

"Huh? Why's the electricity turned on again? It hasn't even been an hour since the start of it." Junpei questioned.

"Oh, look! The lights are on again." Yukiko smiled to them. "Guess there's no need for me to go to the back of the building. Please, continue your party. I'll take my leave now."

Everyone nodded to her and she left the room. The team now looked confused.

"How come that girl is active during the _Dark Hour_?" Yukari curiously said.

"Maybe she has the potential?" Ken mentioned.

"Yes, Ken-kun's right. I think she does have the potential." Fuuka remarked. "I could sense her power a bit when she came into this room, although it's just a little.

"Now that explains how she could move in the _Dark Hour_, but the bigger question is, how come the _Dark Hour_ returned?" Akihiko pointed out.

Everyone was now thinking about it, heads down. They can't find any other single reason besides that the seal that Minato had made to conceal Nyx was broken by something.

"Let's just stop thinking about this for now. We need to get some rest first." Mitsuru spoke out. "We'll discuss this tomorrow morning. Everyone please go and have a rest first tonight."

Everyone then stood up and left the room without any talking. "What are we going to do, Mitsuru-san?" Aigis asked her.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now, Aigis." she uttered and then left the room too.

"Arf! Arf!" Koromaru barked.

"Yes, I think we should really get some rest too, Koromaru." the android smiled to the dog and walked to her room with it.

* * *

Inaba, Junes Dept. Store

January 1st, 2013

11:26 A.M.

* * *

Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto were waiting in front of the giant TV screen in the dept. store.

"Good morning everyone!" Nanako greeted all of her brother's friends.

"Oh, good morning too, Nanako-chan!" Yukiko replied back and hugged her. "How was your sleep last night?"

"Great! I'm full of energy right now!" she answered cheerfully.

"What about you, Souji-kun?" Yukiko asked Souji, which was answered by a smile. "I'm good."

"Good morning Nanako-chan." Chie bent down and smiled to her.

"Good morning, Chie-san! Are we gonna go to the place for the picnic yet?" she questioned enthusiastically.

"We have to wait for Rise and Kanji first, Nanako-chan." Naoto said. "They're bringing some cards for us to play while we're picnicking."

"Yep, and they sure are late." Yosuke looked a bit irritated. "It's been half an hour and they haven't gotten back yet."

"Be patient, Yosuke. They'll be here in a few minutes, I think." Souji tried to calm his friend down. Yosuke was tapping his feet and crossing his arm, showing his annoyance.

"Ah! Look! There they are." Nanako happily said.

"Sorry we're late, senpai." Kanji apologized to them and huffed. He was running with Rise from his house. "Something unexpected happened when we arrived at my place…"

"And what would that be, hm, Kanji?" Yosuke demanded for an answer from Kanji.

"We can explain, senpai." Rise, who was breathing quite heavily because of the running, spoke out.

"Please do, Rise-chan."

"Well, Kanji suddenly had an urgent *cough* business *cough* to do when we arrived at his house." Rise's face reddened and she looked embarrassed.

"What kind of business was it, huh?"

"It's… *cough* Ehm…" Kanji tried to hide his embarrassed face from his friends.

"Just let it go, Yosuke." Souji cut them. "It's time to go anyway."

"Hurray!" Nanako cheered. "Let's go! Let's go!"

"Alright, alright." Souji sighed and grabbed her nephew's hand. "Don't let go of my hand or you'll be separated from us."

Nanako nodded to Souji and tighten her grip on his hand. "Everyone, let's go!" Yosuke signaled as he jumped into the TV. Nanako, who had only seen that for the first time, was awed.

"Let's go, Onii-san!" she begged Souji. He replied her with a nod and readied himself to jump.

"Here we go, Nanako-chan. Jump!" They both leaped to the huge TV screen and went through it.

"Hey, wait for us!" Yukiko yelled and followed them.

"Teddie is waiting for us in there, right?" Kanji asked, feeling uncertain.

"Of course! Now jump!" Chie kicked his butt and he fell into the TV, leaving only the three girls left, Chie, Naoto, and Rise.

"Let's jump together, Naoto-chan, Chie-senpai." Rise suggested and grabbed their hand.

"Careful guys. Don't let anyone know what we're doing her.." Naoto was cut off as Chie pulled her hand.

"Yippie!" Rise jumped into the TV while dragging the other two girls.

"H-hey! don't do it so suddenly like that! I might fall down!" Chie protested to Rise who had already fallen to the TV World with them. "Luckily there was no one besides us in the store. It's probably because it's the new years day today."

"I still can't get used to this thing…" Naoto said while grabbing her hat, as to not drop it while they were being warped into a different dimension.

After a while of falling down, they finally landed, with their bumps first. "Ouch… That hurts" Chie whined and rubbed her butt.

The others had already stood up and watched the view of the place, which was very pretty.

"I can't believe that this place is the world of the shadows." Yukiko remarked while viewing the sight that was in front of her.

"Hi there, everyone!" a loud and cheerful voice was suddenly heard from out of nowhere. "It's good to see you guys to have arrived here safely"

"Is that you Teddie?" Yosuke said, looking for the source of the voice.

"Where are you Teddie?" Nanako uttered as she was searching for him around the bushes.

"I'm up here, Nanako-chan!" Teddie answered their call and then jumped down from a high tree near the spot where the team landed.

"What are you doing up there, Teddie?" Chie asked the blonde man. "And why are you not in your Bear 'costume'?"

"I was waiting for you guys to show up." he replied, grinning. "It's my special spot too. I can see where you guys landed from there. As for the costume, I don't want to use it today. It's quite hot here."

"Alright Teddie. So, have you found any place that's good for us to have the picnic?" Souji questioned him.

"Of course I have sensei!" Teddie said reassuringly.

"Well then, take us there." Yukiko requested.

"Alrighty! Follow me everyone-kuma!" Teddie walked away, showing the direction to the spot he had found.

The team then followed him, chatting with each other along the way. They walked through the bushes of the forest and arrived in front of a huge lake.

"Wow! Cool!" Yosuke commented. "You did a really great job finding this spot, Teddie!"

"Yeah, this place is fantastic!" Rise added.

"Of course, I'm a genius after all." Teddie said with a proud face.

"Let's prepare the food first, girls!" Yukiko called. "The boys can help too if you want."

"I'll help." Souji offered himself.

"Me too!" Nanako shouted happily. "I'm going to help out to prepare the foods."

"Alright, Nanako-chan. Come over here then." Chie invited her.

Nanako then ran towards the girls, with Souji trailing behind her. '_This is gonna be a beautiful day…_' Souji thought while looking at the clear sky.

* * *

The sound of chirping bird and ripples echoed through the ear of a certain someone, waking him up from his slumber.

He opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the blinding light above him. '_Light?_' thought him as he moved his hand to cover his eyes. His face got wet because of the water that splashed his face when he pulled his hand.

'_Water? Where am… I?_' his mind wondered as he was floating in the middle of a lake. '_What happened…? Why am I here?_'

He then turned his head to the right to see his surroundings a bit, soaking the right side of his face and hair as he did that. '_Forest...? What's this place?_' he thought after seeing the forest that lies beyond his vision.

A sharp pain suddenly shot his head, making him clutch his head. The pain only lasts for a few seconds, but it left a painful aftereffect. He tried to endure it.

After he had gained his composure, he decided to swim to the dry land that wasn't very far from where he was floating before, considering he hadn't recovered yet from the headache. His head was hurting really bad and he couldn't hold his eyes opened.

When he got to the shore, he immediately looked for a place to rest. He saw a huge tree near the place where he was standing and chose to rest beneath it. He walked over to it while striping his gekkoukan jacket and undoing the tie that's wrapped around his neck.

He sat down under the huge tree and started to close his eyes. The sound of the wind blowing and the rustling leaves could be heard as he closed his eyes. Feeling comfortable, he fell asleep with a peaceful mind.

* * *

"Ah, I've been waiting for you guys." Igor smiled widely to the trio who had just come to the velvet room through a portal that materialized in front of his desk. "So, how is he doing?"

"What kind of a greeting is that, Igor? Aren't you supposed to worry about your assistant, Elizabeth, here?" Ryouji said lightheartedly and returned the smile. "Well, he is now alive again and doing just fine. As for Elizabeth here, I think she would need a lot of rest before she could move around freely." Pharos explained the situation to the long nosed man.

Igor then laughed creepily, startling the two who were holding Elizabeth that was still unconscious.

"Here, let me take her to her room." a man wearing a blue butler suit came out of nowhere and cradled Elizabeth, bridal style.

"And who might you be?" Ryouji asked curiously to the man.

"My apology, I'm Theodore, Elizabeth's little brother. I'm the youngest of the three siblings. My older sister, Margareth, is not present here right now, so I'll take care of her." Theo clarified to them.

"I see… Well then, good luck. We're going out of here. This place gives me the creep." Ryouji said while taking a look at the velvet room. "Oh, and give her our thanks when she wakes up, Theo-chan." He added before disappearing with Pharos, who was chuckling after hearing the nickname that Ryouji gave to Theodore.

"….." Theo was speechless after hearing that.

"Don't let it bother you, Theo. You should go and take care of your sister first." Igor ordered him.

"Yes, master." Theo replied and quickly went to take Elizabeth to her room.

Igor was now alone in the room, accompanied by the sound of the ticking clock.

"The wheel of fate is starting to turn again. I look forward to see you, my guests, handling it." Igor said as he looked to the ceiling of the velvet room which was like a night starry skies.

…..

* * *

Amagi Inn

January 1st, 2013

8:13 A.M.

* * *

The S.E.E.S group was now waiting in silent in the Kirijo's room. They're waiting for one of their missing member.

"Chidori-chan, do you know where Junpei is?" Fuuka asked the read haired woman.

"I… think he was looking for something in his luggage." Chidori answered with a thoughtful face. "He told me to go on ahead and meet up with you guys here."

"Oh, alright then." responded Fuuka.

Just as she said that, the sliding door was opened abruptly, revealing Junpei who was breathing heavily. It looked like he had just run from his room to the meeting.

"Sorry…" *huff* *huff* *huff* "for" *huff* *huff* "being late…" *huff* he apoligized while trying to catch up his breath.

"What were you doing Iori?" Akihiko questioned him with a bit of irritated look on his face.

"I'm sorry, guys. I was looking for my evoker, but I can't seem to find it in my bag." Junpei said.

"You brought your evoker?" Yukari asked.

"Well, yeah. It's my memory of our adventure in the Tartarus. Sometimes I also use it to scare some thugs that are threatening me." Junpei was silent for awhile and finally muttered, "It also reminds me of 'him'".

"So, you carry it every time you go out, huh?" Akihiko said.

"Yeah…"

"Okay guys that's enough. Let's start our meeting today about what do we have to do about the return of Dark Hour." Mitsuru ordered the group.

"For starters, we need weapons." Shinjiro pointed out. "The evokers. I didn't bring mine this time so… this will be quite dangerous. We won't be able to kill those shadows with only ordinary weapons. We need the personas." he continued.

"Don't worry Shinji, I have already ordered my company to deliver the new prototype of the evokers here. It should arrive in another 10 hours." Mitsuru said.

"What about our weapons?" Ken asked.

"I also told them to bring the most powerful weapons our company has that might suit your style." she added.

"Is that so…" the young boy said with a relieved expression.

"Man…. This sucks… Why do our new years have to be started with the return of Dark Hour…" Junpei complained.

"Yeah, this is the worst new year I've ever had in my life…" Yukari admitted.

"What's Chidori doing now Fuuka?" Junpei asked the blue haired girl.

"She's in her room, cleaning some things up." she answered.

Junpei then sighed, "I wish she wouldn't have to experience the dark hour again. This is too much for her."

"Chidori-chan's memories of the dark hour were gone right? What will happen if she sees the personas again? Is she going to get her memories back?" Yukari questioned them.

"I don't know about that, but I don't think it will be good for her." Mitsuru said.

"I guess so…" Junpei mumbled.

"So, are we going to explore this town tonight? Or are we going back to Port Island and check wether Tartarus has come back or not?" Akihiko asked the team.

"I think we should check around this place for tonight." Aigis said. "We need to clean this place up first so that there won't be victims of apathy syndrome in this town."

"Arf! Arf!" The albino dog barked, seemed to agree to the female android.

"Well then, which place should we check first tonight?" Akihiko enthusiastically said.

* * *

Inaba, TV/Shadows World

January 1st, 2013

12:15 P.M.

* * *

"Could you pass me the plate, Kanji-kun?" requested Naoto to Kanji who was daydreaming, seeing Naoto.

"O-oh! Sorry, here you go." he gave the plate to her while blushing.

Naoto who noticed that Kanji had been looking at her face asked him, "Is there something on my face, Kanji-kun? You have been staring at me."

"N-n-no! There's nothing on your face. It's nothing." stuttered Kanji who was now blushing madly.

Naoto thought for awhile and then said, "Okay then." She then got back to prepare the food that they brought.

Rise who had seen Kanji's reaction couldn't help but laughed. She tried to cover her laugh by covering her mouth with her hands. But it didn't help. She burst out laughing, attracting everyone's attention.

"What's wrong, Rise-chan?" Chie asked.

"It's nothing, haha, senpai. Fufu…" she answered while trying to hold her laugh.

"I see…" Chie responded doubtfully.

Meanwhile, Yosuke, Teddie, and Nanako were walking around the woods while talking to each other. Yosuke and Teddie were told to look after Nanako.

"Hey senpai, how is it going between you two?" Teddie asked.

"What? What are you talking about Teddie?" Yosuke asked back, clueless.

"You know what I meant, senpai." Teddie continued to tease him.

"No, I don't know what you mean" Yosuke retorted back with an annoyed face.

"I MEAN, between you and Chie! Have you told her yet that you li- MMmph!"

"Shut it! Someone might here you!" Yosuke said as he shut teddie's mouth with his hand as hard as he could, blushing as he did. "(&#(!"

Teddie then bit Yosuke's hand and ran off from him. He hid behind a tree while Yosuke was screaming because of the bite.

"Gaahhhh! Dammit! Teddie! You'll pay for this!" Yosuke said as he started to search for Teddie.

Nanako laughed at the scene she just saw. While Yosuke and Teddie were 'playing' hide and seek, Nanako decided to leave them and go for a walk alone. She wandered around and had so much fun. She saw birds (?) flying around the trees. She even saw a squirrel jumped down from a branch and landed in front of her. The squirrel looked at her with a curious look. She then tried to get closer to it. The squirrel didn't move a bit. It just stayed there while eyeing Nanako's movement.

When Nanako was close enough to it, she bent down and tried to pat it. The squirrel suddenly jumped to Nanako's head, surprising her. It then moved to her right shoulder and gave itself to be patted by her. Nanako smiled at that at patted it.

"Hm… What should I call you? How about… mii-chan" she said.

The squirrel wiggled its' tail and snuggled itself to Nanako, an approving sign. Nanako chuckled and patted its' head again. It seemed like the squirrel had taken a liking to her. She continued her adventure in the woods with her little friend.

When she was exploring the place, she saw a shade of person under a huge tree. That person was sitting below it. The person has blue hair covering his face. From the clothes the person wear, she could guess that it's a man.

Curios, she walked closer to the man. She seemed interested with the man as she looked closely to inspect the blue haired young man. '_His hair is beautiful…_' She thought as she touched the man's hair. She then moved the hair that was blocking his face so she could clearly see the young man's face. '_Oh, he's so handsome…_' Nanako thought to herself. '_His sleeping face is so charming_'

* * *

Inaba, TV/Shadows World

January 1st, 2013

12:23 P.M.

* * *

Two persons were walking alongside the vast lake. It was Souji and Yukiko. They were walking beside each other.

"So, Souji-kun. How is it going with your life in the city?" Yukiko questioned Souji.

"Um… It's quite boring if I may say…" he replied

"Oh? Why is that?" Yukiko asked back

"It's because… You guys are not there." said him. "Especially you, Yukiko" he uttered.

"E-e-eh?" Yukiko stumbled and almost fell down. "W-w-what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"I mean, I missed you there…"

"O-oh. Is that so…"

"Yeah."

"That makes me happy, Souji-kun…" Yukiko murmured.

Silence filled the air, leaving the both of them blushing. Souji tried to break the quietness down by changing the topic of what they're talking about.

"Yukiko, are you going to inherit your parent's inn?" he asked.

It took quite a while before Yukiko started to talk again.

"Yes, I think I'm going to inherit it. But…"

"What's wrong?" Souji had a curious look on his face.

"I'm not going to inherit them alone. I need someone to help me manage it…" she said, looking at Souji from the corner of her eyes.

"Ah, so… you mean… you want me to…"

The two were now blushing again as they realized what they had been talking about. Silence ruled over them again, making the atmosphere awkward.

"Hey, Yukiko…" Before he could finish his sentence he saw a shadow of a young girl not far from where he was standing.

"Yes, what is it, Souji-kun?" she replied. Not receiving her answer, she looked at the man's face to find that he was staring at someplace else. "What are you looking at, Souji-kun?"

"Huh? O-oh. Sorry." the man apologized to her. "I thought I saw Nanako walking alone. But, he was supposed to be Yosuke and Teddie…" he wondered.

"Really? Well, maybe you should check it out. Perhaps Yosuke and Teddie left her alone." said her.

"That's… a possibility, I guess. Maybe I should go check it out." Souji said. "Stay here okay, Yukiko. I'll be back in a sec."

"Sure." she answered.

Souji then left her alone and went to search for Nanako in the direction he had seen her before.

* * *

Minato's POV

* * *

'…_**to … Minato… Minato Arisato…**_'

_I heard someone calling my name. Somehow the voice seems nostalgic but I can't remember anything. Slowly, I gained my conscious and tried to open my eyes a bit. My vision was still blurry but I'm sure that someone is standing in front of me right now… Who is it? _

"Oh, you're awake?"

_A girl? _

_I tried to focus my eyes on the little girl in front of me. Finally I could see her. She was a girl that was dressed simply with a white summer dress. Her hair was kind of short and she had it tied in two pony tails. _

"Good afternoon Onii-san! What are you doing here?"

_Is she talking to me? Of course she is. There's nobody else around here as I turned my head to my sides. Okay… What was I doing? Where am I? How did I end up right here? It was the things that were flowing inside my mind as soon as she asked me that. But I couldn't answer her question. Because I, myself, don't even know what happened._

_I just convert my gaze to my side and tried to ignore her. She then asked me again._

"What's your name?" _she asked with an innocent face._

_I ignored her again and she didn't respond. I looked at her face, curious of what's her response of my action. Surprisingly enough, her face didn't show any annoyance to it. _

"It's alright if you don't want to answer my questions, Onii-san. Maybe you could tell me some other time." _She said as she walked to my side and started to sit down next to me._

"By the way, why are your clothes all wet?"

_Huh? My clothes? Oh yeah… I remembered now. I swam from the middle of the lake to here… _

_I decided to ignore her again. I was too tired to answer her questions... She sighed at that and paid no attention to my reply._

_Parts of my body still felt numb. I tried to move my fingers, but it only moved a bit. I was glad. It meant that I was recovering. The girl then suddenly moved next to me and sat beside me. _

"What a beautiful day…" _she said with a cheerful tone. _

_She was a cute little girl as I may say it. And she's kind of like somebody that I know… Who was it? Um…Miko? or something? Ah… Forget it. I still can't remember anything._

_I looked at her from the side of my eye and saw her playing with a squirrel. She was patting its' head. She looked really happy. Then I thought for awhile and tried to speak out._

"…to" _I said with a bit of difficulty._

"Huh? What did you say?" _she asked me while hugging her little squirrel friend._

"Minato. Arisato Minato… My name. You asked for it before right?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm Nanako, Dojima Nanako. Nice to meet you Mina-chan" _she replied with a huge smile. _

_Mina-chan? Okay… That's a new nickname for me… Maybe I should ask her somethings…_

"So, uh, Dojima-sa…"

"Just call me Nanako." _she cut me. The squirrel was now staying on her head. Hiding from me, I think._

"Okay… Nanako-chan. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"Do you know… where this place is?"

"This place? This place is inside the TV world." _She answered._

_TV World? As in inside a TV? What's she talking about…_

"Um… TV World? What do you mean by that?" _I tried to get another answer from her._

"It means that we're inside the world of the TV, I think. That's what Souji-nii told me anyway." _She replied._

"Who is this, Souji-nii, that you're talking about?"

"Oh, he's my cousin from the city." _She answered with a happy face. _"He's staying with my family for now to relax from his daily life in the city."

_From the way she talked about her cousin, it seemed that she really liked him, I think… The squirrel was moving along her shoulders while she was talking. It was eyeing me. It seemed rather strange…_

"What's with the squirrel?" _I asked._

_The squirrel stopped moving after I asked Nanako the question. It then stared at me._

"Oh, this little guy? I met him not long ago and he started to follow me." _Nanako answered, smiling as she did. She patted the squirrel's head again._

"Really…?"_ I asked again, feeling something odd about the squirrel. I swear I could feel some kind of a strange atmosphere around the little creature. Maybe it's just my imagination… Ah, whatever._

"Woah." _I squeaked a bit, surprised to see the squirrel jumped to my head. It moved to my shoulder. It felt like it's examining me._

_Nanako giggled and said, _"I think he likes you."

_I sighed and let the thing moved around freely on my shoulders and head. I tried to move my hand to touch it but it was hard. It felt like my hand was bounded by chains. When it was almost as high as my face, the squirrel jumped to it. It surprised me cause it's a little heavy then I thought. My hand was shaking with the weight of the little squirrel on it. I shifted my hand to the front of my face and tried to see the squirrel from up close. We stared at each other for a few seconds until…_

"Nanako!" _A young man's voice could be heard, startling the little rascal. The squirrel immediately jumped back to Nanako's shoulder and leaped to the nearest branch it could reach. It then hid itself among the leaves._

"Oh, it's my cousin that I told you." _she said to me. _"Over here Onii-chan!" _she shouted while waving her hand in the air._

_I could see a silver haired man coming to us from the left side of the woods. _

"Nanako! There you are."_ the man said as he got closer. Looking closely, this man had some odd aura radiating from him. I sensed something familiar from him._

"What are you doing here, Nanako?" _he asked her. _"Where's Yosuke and Teddie? They're supposed to be with you right? Did they leave you behind?"

"I'm just sightseeing onii-chan. And Yosuke and Teddie onii-san didn't leave me. I just took off from them when they were quarrelling." _Nanako explained._

_The man then seemed to notice me sitting behind Nanako. He glared at me before realization hit him. He immediately grabbed Nanako and pulled her behind him with a protective stance._

"Who are you! What are you doing here!" _he interrogated me. _"How did you get **IN** here?"

_I could tell that he was confused as to how did I came here. I thought that it was best to ignore him. So I just did it and looked away from them. I sensed something odd about his presence._

"Souji-nii, this is Minato Arisato. He was sleeping over here before I came. I woke him up by accident because I was curious." _the little girl clarified, trying to help me from his cousin's wrath, I think._

* * *

Souji's PoV

* * *

_I stood there, in front of Nanako, trying to determine the identity of the person who was sitting in front of me._

_How did he get here? No ordinary person should be able to come inside this place. What is this guy? A shadow, like Teddie? But he doesn't give any bad feeling… Is he just like us? A persona user? Maybe it's better if I ask him._

"Who are you! What are you doing here!" _I interrogated him with a bit of a deep toned voice. _"How did you get **IN** here?"

_The guy ignored me and I was kinda ticked off by his attitude. Before I could move and grab his collar, Nanako told me his name, Minato Arisato. She also told me what he was doing here._

_I started to loosen up a bit after hearing what she said and I started to analyze the situation again. This man's appearance… Blue hair? A school uniform? Wait a second… I think I've seen that mark on his jacket… Hm… W-Wha..? Gekkoukan high school uniform? Wasn't that the place that we visited during the school's trip a year ago?_

"Isn't that the Gekkoukan high school uniform?" _I asked, trying to get an answer from him. The boy didn't answer again, but I think I've got his attention. He turned his head and stared at me. Then it seemed like he was looking at something else beside me. I don't know what he was staring at but his face showed some distress._

* * *

Minato's PoV

* * *

"Isn't that the Gekkoukan high school uniform?"_ the man asked. When I heard him say that, my head started to ache. I tried not to keep my face stern from the pain and faced his way. I looked at his face, determining whether he is a trustable person or not. A few seconds passed and I saw a boy appeared from behind the back of the silver haired man. He walked to his side._

_He came out of nowhere, wearing a white and black striped clothes, a prisoner's attire alike. The boy has a blue eyes and a short messy hair. I glared at him and he knew that I was gazing at him. He said something to me, _"It's nice to see you again, Minato-kun… I hope that you don't forget about me…" _The little boy whispered. _"It's me, Pharos."

_Hearing the name, I felt something odd in my memories. Suddenly, pain rushes to my head. I clutched my head, struggling to endure the pain._

"Hey! Are you okay?"

"Mina-chan! What is wrong?"

_I couldn't answer them. The pain was agonizing._

_Memories from years ago came to me out of the blue. I began remembering the past. The time when I was in S.E.E.S., the time I spent with my friends from S.E.E.S., the time when we fought the shadows, the time when we fought Nyx, the bringer of dead, and many more memories. _

_My head was completely throbbing and I couldn't do anything. I started to lose my consciousness. Before my mind went completely blank, I saw the boy, Pharos said another thing to me. _"….." _I didn't hear what he said but I read his lips. "It's time for you to be awake again…" What does he mean by that? … Ugh..._

* * *

Souji's PoV

* * *

_The man suddenly clutched his head and his face displayed an excruciating pain. _

"Hey! Hey! Get yourself together!" _I tried to calm him down._

"Mina-chan!" _Nanako who was completely worried about him moved to his side._

_I was aware that what he had just seen may have triggered this, but I didn't know what he see. He was starting to lose consciousness because of the pain. I told Nanako to settle down and let me handle him. I grabbed his shoulder. I could feel his body shaking and started burning up. _

_After what seemed to be a minute of enduring the pain, he totally lost his consciousness without me being able to do anything to help him and he fell to the floor. His face was covered with sweats. Nanako was stunned at the scene she had just witnessed. I told her to go back to where the others were waiting. She did what I instructed to her and left me with the blue haired man._

_I thought for awhile and decided to bring him back with me to our picnic spot. I grabbed him and put him in my back, piggybacking him. He was quite heavy despite his thin outer look. I started to walk and get to the place._

* * *

End

* * *

Omake

* * *

"Stop running Teddie!" Yosuke yelled while chasing Teddie.

"No way!" the blonde replied while running away from Yosuke. "If I stopped, you are gonna do something bad to me, and I don't want it!"

"Tch, I'm gonna catch you Teddie!"

"Na na na na na! Try and catch me, slowpoke!"

Teddie ran without seeing what's in front of him and…

"W-w-whoaaa!" Teddie shrieked as he fell down the hill.

"W-wha!" Yosuke followed him.

_*CRASH* *THUMP*_

"Ouch! It hurts!" Yosuke protested.

"Owie…" Teddie rubbed his head. "Get off of me Yosuke! You're heavy you know!"

"Alright, alright. Geez…" Yosuke moved from Teddie.

Teddie tried to get back to his feet but he saw someone he didn't expect to see in front of him. "Um… Yosuke…" he pointed his finger to his front while looking at Yosuke.

"What Teddie? Can't you see I'm hurting over here... Uh…" Yosuke went silent after he saw the person in front of him.

The both of them had fallen in the face of Souji, who was piggybacking the boy he had just met. Souji had some killing intent that the two men could felt.

"So… What're you guys doing here..?" he asked with a calm voice, but a vein could be seen on his forehead.

"U-u-uh… What were we doing again, Yosuke?"

"Uh… We were… We were looking for Nanako! Yeah! We were looking for her!"

"Oh really?" Souji said with a disbelief look. "You two had abandoned Nanako alone. I'm gonna punish you both later!" he cleared.

"Hie! Forgive us!" the duo begged in unison.

"Now, take this man and bring him to our spot. This guy fell unconscious not long ago."

"Uh, sure." Yosuke spoke, feeling relieved. "By the way, who is this guy? And just how did he managed to get inside this place?" he said while taking the man from Souji's back.

"I think Nanako called this guy Minato, and for your other question, that I don't know. Maybe he is another victim from the serial killing that had happened inside this TV World." Souji answered him.

"Eh! Another victim? But I didn't sense any other people beside us even before you guys came here a few hours ago."

"That's odd…" Souji thought for awhile. "Okay, enough talking. Start walking and let's go back." Souji ordered them.

The trio then went back to their picnic spot with an unexpected guest with them.

Some trees behind them, the squirrel from earlier, was eyeing them with a curious look. It then followed them sneakily without being noticed.

* * *

That's it folks... Um... Sorry if you guys think this story is not exciting or fun to read... This is just the beginning of the story (We mean this is still a part of the prologue) we tried doing PoVs of Souji and Minato. We don't know if it fits them...

And for the next chapters..WeI don't know when will it be updated... so don't expect them to be updated soon :(

Well, we're not really in the mood to type them all... (so sorry guys _)

And..

Reviews & critics please! (This will motivate us :P)

Thx all..


	4. Chapter 3

Renewed Contract

Chapter 3

Accidental Meeting

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn, Hallway

January 1st, 2013

4:08 P.M.

* * *

A raven haired woman was walking inside the hallway of the Inn. She was wearing a pink colored yukata with floral motives on it. She wore a red hairband on her hair. It was Yukiko Amagi, the heiress of the Amagi Inn.

On her hand, was a tray, with a bowl of cold water and a towel placed on it. She walked gently as to not disturb the other guests that were staying there right now, especially the Kirijo's group.

She finally stopped in front of a room and opened the door slowly, not wanting to disturb the guest inside the room. The glass sliding door that leads to the garden gave a beautiful view of the twilight scenery.

The evening light was seen glimmering on the surface of the small pond. Kois were swimming around in it. Birds were chirping as they flew back to their nest.

A man was laid on a futon in the room. The evening sun's ray penetrated the glasses. His blue hair was shining, reflecting the radiance of the twilight sun. He was vast asleep.

'_He's still asleep…_' she moved closer to the man and put the tray beside the futon. Curious, she touched his forehead to check his temperature. '_Well, his fever has gone down a bit. He's okay now… I think I'll just leave these things here then._'

She got up and walked slowly to the door.

'_Everyone is going to come here soon, huh…? Guess I need to prepare their room first._' she thought as she slid the door open and left the room silently, not forgetting to close it.

* * *

Inaba, Dojima's Residence

3:56 P.M.

* * *

The silver haired man had just finished packing up his luggage for tonight's sleepover when Nanako knocked on the door.

"Come in." Souji permitted.

"Onii-chan, are you going to stay at Yukiko-san's house tonight?" she clarified after opening the door.

"Well, yes." he answered. "What's wrong Nanako?"

"Well, nothing… It's just… I'll feel lonely again tonight…" Nanako's voice sounded sad.

Souji smiled after he heard that and spoke out. "Don't worry, Nanako. Uncle Dojima will be back early tonight. I told him yesterday that I'm going to have a sleepover so he should be able to come home earlier today and have a dinner with you." he cleared.

"Really? Really, Souji-nii?" Nanako's eyes glimmered in happiness. "Yay! I'll cook his favorite dinner tonight!"

"Yep! Your cooking has become a lot better recently. I bet uncle will be really happy to have a taste of your cooking." Souji encouraged her.

"Thanks, Onii-chan!" she smiled to him. "I'll prepare the ingredients first! Have a fun sleepover, Nii-chan!" Nanako closed the door and went to the kitchen.

"Sure, Nanako." Souji replied without bothering whether she heard it or not.

'_Maybe I should go there first to help her._' he thought. 'Alright, I'll leave now.' he decided after he finished packing and grabbed his luggage.

He walked down the stairs and opened the front door. "I'm leaving now, Nanako! Be careful not to cut your fingers when you cook okay!" he told her.

"Ehh? Isn't it too early to go there?"

"Well, I thought I could help Yukiko if I go there earlier."

"Hee… Alright then. Have a safe trip, Onii-chan!"

"Yeah, see you, Nanako."

He closed the door and left the house.

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn

4:43 P.M.

* * *

"Excuse me. Is Yukiko here?" Souji asked the female receptionist in the lobby.

She looked like she was in her mid thirties, but her aura of youth are still strong radiating from her face.

"Yukiko-chan? Are you her friend?" She questioned Souji with a polite smile.

"Yes, I am. My name is Seta Souji. I want to talk to her."

"Oh, okay. Please wait here. I'll go and get her, Seta-san." she smiled.

"Sure." Souji answered and smiled back at her.

The receptionist then left the place, searching for Yukiko. A few minutes later, she arrived with Yukiko on her side.

"Hi, Souji-kun! What are you doing here, coming so early?" Yukiko waved to him.

"Well, I figured maybe I could help you with the work before the others arrive."

"Eh? A-are you sure, Souji-kun?" Yukiko's cheeks turned into light pink colored.

"Yeah, I'm positive. So, is there anything I can help?"

"U-um… Maybe you could check on our guest from earlier?" Yukiko suggested.

"You mean, that guy?"

"Yes, I just checked on him almost an hour ago. His fever had gone down a little and he's sleeping soundly. But, maybe you should check up on him again."

"Okay then, I'll go see him." Souji turned his body around and took a step forward but stopped after realizing something. "Uh, where's his room?"

Yukiko chuckled witnessing his action and then gave him the answer, "Go to the right hall and turn right at the second intersection. go straight until you see a door with the sign 'do not disturb' on it."

"Alright. Tell me if you need my help then. I'm off."

"Okay, Souji-kun."

Souji left the lobby, leaving Yukiko and the female receptionist.

"Hey, Yukiko-chan, is that your… boyfriend?" the woman asked with a teasing face.

"E-e-eh? H-he's… Uh… Ah…" Yukiko was blushing madly as she heard the question, not knowing of what to answer.

"I'm going first!" She said with a bit of panic in her voice and quickly bowed her head to left the area.

"My, my... Our Yukiko is already growing up." Said the receptionist who actually had been working in the inn for 15 years. "Isn't that right, Jii-san?"

She threw the question to an old man wearing a white shirt and white headband who had been listening from the office behind the receptionist desk.

"Well, she is really growing fast..." The old man answered. "I can't believe she's actually at that age already." he sighed and smiled to the woman who had entered the office.

"That's our Yukiko-chan for you." she replied back with a grin.

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn, Front Door

6:08 P.M.

* * *

"Yukiko! We're here!" A shout came from the front door.

"Yes, yes! Wait a minute, Yosuke." Yukiko said and opened the door. "Come in you guys."

They group then went inside the Inn.

"Wah… This place is still the same as ever… It's really big and nice!" the idol said as they walked in the hallway.

"Thank you, Rise-chan." Yukiko smiled. "But it's not really that great, if I may say."

"What are you talking about, Yukiko-san?" Yosuke said questioningly. "This place is really cool, you know! I bet that's why this place is called the treasure or Inaba

"Where's Souji-kun?" Chie asked her. "He didn't call us."

"Oh, he came earlier. He's in that guy's room right now, I think…"

"Eh… Sensei came here earlier? Why's that?" Teddie questioned their host.

"Yo, Souji! How's he?" the door behind him opened up and revealed his friends.

"Oh, you guys are here." Souji looked at them before replying Chie's question. "He had a fever before, but I think he's gonna be alright."

"Really now, just who is this guy Souji-senpai?" Rise asked him while moving closer to Minato and observed him from above. "He looks kinda cool."

Everybody sweatdropped after hearing Rise's opinion.

"This is not the time to talk about something like that, Rise." Naoto said cooly.

"By the way, Naoto-chan."

"Yes, Rise?"

"He looks similar to you, you know."

"…." Naoto got silent.

"Really? Let me see his face." Chie swiftly moved to Rise's side and took a look at his face. "Wow, he does look like you, Naoto-chan."

'_Now that Chie mentioned it, he really does look like Naoto._' Souji's eyes hovered on Minato's limp body. '_His dark blue hair is the most similar to Naoto's. Is he Naoto's cousin?_'

"Do you recognize him, Naoto-chan?" Yukiko questioned her.

Naoto looked at his face before she told them, "No… I don't know him."

"Y-You sure about that Naoto?" Kanji asked her.

Naoto took another look at his face and said, "Yes, I'm positive I don't know him."

"Anyway, you said earlier that his name was Minato right?" Yosuke rested on the wall.

"Arisato Minato. That's what I heard from Nanako." Souji answered.

"He's wearing the uniform of Gekkoukan high school that we visited on our study trip last year, right? Is he one of the students there?" Chie said as she looked at the badge on Minato's uniform.

"I don't know the detail yet, but it seems so." Souji responded.

"Hey, the Kirijo group owns the school right?" Yukiko clasped her hands. "Mitsuru Kirijo is here right now. So why don't we just ask her?" she suggested.

"Oh yeah. We can ask them about this guy. Maybe they know him." Yosuke butted in.

"Well, let's try to find some good time to ask them about this. When are they leaving?"

"They're leaving at noon tomorrow. Maybe we can ask them in the morning. I think they're having some sort of important meeting right now." Yukiko pointed out.

"Yeah, well, we're gonna stay here for the night anyway. Let's get to our room and put our things there." Naoto proposed them.

"Okay guys, follow me." Yukiko commanded and walked out of the room.

The team then followed her, one by one. Souji, on the other hand, decided to stay in the room.

"Are you coming, senpai?" Kanji asked before he went out.

"No, I'm gonna stay here for awhile." Souji looked at Kanji and smiled.

"Uh, sure then. See ya, senpai." with that, Kanji left.

Souji closed his eyes and tried to recall what Igor had said the night before.

"_I have a request for you tonight. You'll soon meet some people, who will need your help. Amongst them, there's a young man, just like you. I hope that you'll help that person and his friends. That's all for my request."_

'_I think that's what he told me…_' he massaged his forehead. '_Who's this young man that Igor mentioned… Guess I'll have to ask them about this later tonight._'

He searched his pocket for the Velvet key. '_Hope that the entrance is still the same. Ah, found it._'

He took out the key and looked at it. '_This really brings back memories._' Souji's mind wandered off again as he remembered the time when they were fighting to search for the truth behind the serial killing in the town that happened a year ago.

'_Oh, I guess I should go back to the room first._' He snapped out of his daydream. '_Seems like this guy isn't gonna wake up anytime soon._' With that, he left the room, quietly, as to not wake Minato up.

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn

6:20 P.M.

* * *

The members of the S.E.E.S. team were gathered in Mitsuru's room once again. They were checking up on their weapons that Mitsuru had ordered earlier in the morning.

"Wow." Ken grabbed his naginata. "This is pretty cool!" he squealed.

The naginata was 2 meters long. A 30 centimeters curved sharp blade was attached at the end of the wooden shaft. The shaft's color was mostly black, with some golden and red carvings around it, making a dragon like figure. It wasn't that heavy because Ken could easily move and spin it around.

"This is… This is just… impressive" Junpei couldn't say anything else as he took hold of his new nodachi.

The blade was quite heavy and it made him almost dropped it when he first tried to hold it. It was almost a meter long, with a golden and black 20 centimeters grip. The sheath was colored red, decorated with a silver snake like shape depicted on the edges.

"Oh, man! This is just too cool!" he couldn't suppress his excitement anymore.

Akihiko, who was checking his newly made gloves specifically for him was silent. He had been glaring at it for some time now. He was astonished to see the appearance of it. It's not like his ordinary boxing gloves. It was a weighted knuckle-glove. It was made of kevlar, making it look sturdy. Its color was pure black with silver colored iron embroidered on it, creating a cross like shape. He put it on, trying to get a feel of it. It fitted his hand perfectly.

"Are these even legal in this country?" Akihiko asked Mitsuru in awe.

"Don't worry Akihiko, we have already gotten the permission to use all of these equipments." the woman assured him.

Yukari was pulling the strings of her new Yumi. She was awed by its' elasticity and weight. Although it's over two meters long, it wasn't that heavy. The arrows that Mitsuru had prepared were made of powerful wood, with its' tip covered by sharpened steel.

"Thanks a lot Mitsuru-senpai!" Yukari was thrilled of her new weapon. "You sure do know how to prepare for our fight."

The blonde android grabbed her new mini-machineguns and examined it. She tried it on and felt that it matched her hands completely. "Mitsuru-san, thank you for this." Aigis bowed her head, earning her a chuckle from their current leader.

"It's no problem, Aigis. This is for our own good too." she smiled at the team.

"Here, Koro-chan. Your new dagger." Fuuka gave the albino dog its' weapon, which it received happily.

"Woof! Woof!" Koromaru barked, thanking her.

"Mitsuru, isn't this a bit… extreme?" Shinji was bewildered by his new double sided axe. Made of pure iron, it was heavy enough, around 15 kg. Ordinary person won't be able to swing the weapon easily. But Shinji was able to hold it up and sway it around freely.

"Not really, Shinji. And be careful with that." Mitsuru instructed him. "Don't swing it around where there are a lot of people."

"Alright, alright. Geez…" Shinji sighed in defeat.

"Oh, right. Almost forgot." she took a briefcase from the closet. "There you go. It's your new Evokers guys. Please, each of you take one of it." she ordered as she opened it.

The new evoker looked almost like the old ones they had, with all the details. Although it's a bit bigger, It wasn't as a heavy as the old one. It had a new feature which made it unique. On each of the gun's side, there were carvings of their owner's name individually. There's also their own arcana according to their personas engraved on the other side of it.

"Well, it's cool alright." Junpei commented and put the thing in his holster.

"I can't wait to try our new weapons tonight." Akihiko was eager to fight the shadows. "We're going to clear this place right?" he tried to reconfirm the plan again.

"Yes, Akihiko-san." Aigis nodded. "We have to make sure that there aren't any shadows lurking in this town first."

"Okay, Aigis-san." Ken obediently said.

"Now that you have got your weapons, let's review our plan for tonight again." Mitsuru ordered.

…

* * *

Investigation Team's Room

7:56 P.M.

* * *

"It's almost eight o'clock already. Where's our dinner?" Yosuke complained.

"Patience, Yosuke. Patience." Souji advised his partner. "Yukiko should be here with our dinner shortly."

Right after he said that, the door opened, revealing Yukiko with their dinner on her hand.

"Here you are guys. Sorry for being late." Yukiko apologized to them while putting down the meal and arranged them in the center of the room. "I've got my hands full on the kitchen."

"It's alright, Yukiko-senpai." Naoto who was leaning back against the wall walked to the center, where the food was prepared.

"I'll help." Naoto offered her a hand.

"Thank you, Naoto-chan." Yukiko thanked her.

"Finally. I'm starving already." Yosuke chirped, feeling relieved.

"Wow… It looks great." Kanji gulped.

"I'm sorry I can't join you right now. I need to help clean the dining room first." Yukiko regrettably said and walked to the door.

"I'll help you out." Souji shifted up from his sitting position and followed her.

"No, please don't. You are the guest here." she declined his offer. "I can't let you do those kind of works."

"It'll be quicker that way." Souji said, smiling at her.

"… Alright…" she sighed. "You can help." Yukiko gave up after looking at his expression. "Follow me."

"You guys stay right here and enjoy the dinner okay." Souji told the team before he closed the sliding door.

"Well, the leader said it, so why don't we enjoy our dinner now." Yosuke took a pair of chopsticks and grabbed himself a sashimi. "It's delicious!"

Chie sighed and shook her head. "Alright, alright. Let's start eating before the food gets cold guys."

The team members then moved to their seats and started to eat their dinner.

… In the hallway…

"Souji-kun, you should've stayed there and eat with the rest." Yukiko advised him

"Nah. I want to help you so that we can be together with the rest faster." Souji explained his action. "And… that way, we can be alone for awhile." he blushed as he said it.

"E-eh?" Yukiko's cheek was heating up and she almost tripped on her yukata. Souji's reflect was faster that he managed to saved her from falling.

"Are you okay, Yukiko?" his face was full of worries. "Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah." Yukiko stuttered as she stood up. "I'm alright, Souji-kun."

"That's a relief." Souji smiled, making her cheeks redder.

"L-let's go, we have to clean the room fast." she said as she dashed forward, leaving Souji behind.

'_She's so cute when she's like that…_' Souji grinned playfully. "Wait up, Yukiko!" he ran towards her.

…

* * *

9.06 P.M.

Investigation Team's Room

* * *

"Ha… I'm stuffed." Yosuke said as he lay down.

"Yeah, me too. These are really good." Kanji agreed to his senpai.

"So, where are those two? They haven't come back yet." Chie curiously asked.

"Maybe something happened to them?" Rise said while finishing her food.

"Or maybe… They're both alone in an empty room right now, doing …"

*WHAM* a fist landed on Yosuke's head.

"Gah!" he cried in pain.

*THWACK* Now a fan hit the back of his head.

"Ouch!" Yosuke fell to the floor as the result of the impact. "What's the big idea?" he turned his head around, only to find Souji and Yukiko with her blushing face standing there, behind him.

"O-oh, you're back!" Yosuke stated panicky.

Souji glared at him, smiling as he did.

"Er…" Yosuke stared at Souji's smiling face, which made him shivered. "Y-Yo partner!" he tried to be casual, sweat coming out from his forehead.

"Heya, partner." Souji was still smiling but veins could be seen forming on his face. "So, you want my punishment now, or later?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Uh… Later would be good. Ahaha… ha…" Yosuke answered nervously.

"Sure then." Souji replied, still smiling, evilly.

"Hmph…" Yukiko walked inside and grabbed her fan that she threw at Yosuke before.

The team was silent, except for Chie, who was trying to hide her laugh. But, she failed and finally burst out into laughter.

They sweatdropped as they witnessed Chie's reaction.

"So-sorry guys." Chie attempted to stop her laugh. "It's just, Yosuke's look was so… priceless."

"Would you stop it, Chie." Yosuke feeling annoyed, ask her to stop. "It's not funny."

Souji sighed and moved to the center with Yukiko following behind. He sat down and took a good look at the team.

"So, any fun ideas on what to do now?" he asked them.

"Well, I brought cards." Rise pulled out packs of cards from her bag.

"Wow, that's a lot of cards." Naoto commented as she picked a pack.

"So, let's start the game!" Yosuke recovered back and started to shuffle the cards.

…

Two hours later…

Souji and the others were laughing as they play the card game. They made a rule. The loser had to have his/her part of body doodled with paint by the winner. And… as far as it went, Yosuke had the most scribbles on his body.

"Dude! I can't believe I keep losing over and over again." he whined in disbelief after he lost another game.

"Hahaha, that's your own fault." Chie mocked him.

"You are so unskilled at playing this game, Yosuke! Hahahaha!" Teddie teased him too.

"Come here, Yosuke-senpai!" Rise ordered him as she prepared her brush.

"Not again… This is the ninth times already." He gave up and leaned closer to his kouhai.

Yosuke closed his eyes, feeling ticklish as he felt the tip of the brush on his face.

"H-hey! Why do I have to get it in the face?" Yosuke complained and shifted his body away from Rise.

"Well, I can't help it, senpai. There are no more space in your hands." she replied back.

"Guh…" Yosuke was embarrassed seeing that what Rise said were true. "Fine! I'll stick to the rules. I give up. Here, you can draw anything you want." he gave his head to Rise and shut his eyes again.

"Okay, then. Here we go." the brunette chuckled and started to drew things on her senpai's face.

… 2 minutes later…

Outside the room

Voices of laughter could be heard from outside the room, startling one of the guests of the inn who was passing by.

"What the hell man?" the man said while fixing his baseball cap.

"Sheesh, that really caught me off guard." he admitted to himself. '_What are they doing inside anyway?_' he asked to himself. The man, feeling curious, decided to peek at the room. But before he could do it, he remembered something.

"Ah, I almost forgot." he stopped his action. '_I should get going now, or else Mitsuru-senpai will get angry to me again._' he then fled the scene.

Inside the room

Everybody was still laughing, even Souji, who rarely laugh. He was chuckling quite a bit.

"*Snort* Ghg.. Gufu... *Snort* Ahahahah!" Yukiko, who couldn't seem to be able to hold her laugh finally burst into laughter.

"Yosuke… *gasp**gasp*, your face… haha… It looks funny!" Chie laughed again uncontrollably.

"Nice job, Rise… hahaha." Kanji complimented Rise as he continued to laugh again.

"Hahahaha! Yosuke looks like a clown! Hahaha!" Teddie laughed out loud.

"Yup! It's really well drawn I'd say." Rise boasted herself. "It looks good on you, Yosuke-senpai." she smiled to him playfully.

"Uh…." Yosuke could only stay silent, while veins popping out on his forehead. "Give me a mirror! I want to see what my face looks like right now!" he pleaded.

"Here, senpai." Naoto gave him the mirror.

Yosuke was stunned, looking at his face in the mirror. "W-what have you done, Rise?" he cried out. "Noooo~~!"

Everyone laughed again after seeing Yosuke's reaction. His face was, well, covered with Rise's drawing. Circles around both his eyes, a mustache, and some writings on his cheeks that spelled 'I'm handsome'(in Japanese writing).

"No! Don't look at my face!" Yosuke tried to hide his face using his hands.

Sympathizing his friend, Souji stopped his laugh and spoke out, "Come on guys. Let's stop it. I think that's enough of laughing."

Everybody finally quiet down after Souji said that, although some were still giggling.

"Thanks, partner." Yosuke felt grateful to his friend. "May I wash these paint now?" he asked the team.

"No can't do." Rise said. "We still got 5 more rounds to go before you can wash it away." she teased her senpai.

"Agh… Come on!" he pleaded.

"Just finish the games first." Chie suggested while she was still giggling.

"Alright, alright! But this is the last game if I lose, okay?" Yosuke finally agreed to continue playing.

"By the way guys, I need to head out for a bit." Souji told them as he got up and walked to the sliding door.

"Where are you going, Souji-kun?" Yukiko asked him. "It's near midnight now."

"Just… someplace in the town. I'll be okay, Yukiko." He grinned and closed the door. "I'll be back before you know it."

After closing the door, Souji could hear Chie shouted, "Careful on your way there, Souji-kun! You don't want to make your princess here, worry about you, right?"

He stumbled when he started to walk and almost fell down. Luckily, his reflex was fast enough that he managed to stand back up.

'_… Chie and her big mouth…._' he thought as he heard laughter coming out from the room that he had just left. 'Ha… I guess I'd better get going. It's almost midnight already.' With that, he left the inn in a hurry.

* * *

S.E.E.S Room

11:50 P.M.

* * *

"Ten minutes until the operation." Aigis informed the others.

"I'm having a weird feeling…" Yukari claimed as she prepared her bow.

"Yeah, me too." Ken, the youngest of them admitted. "I'm worried about the seal that Minato-san made. Did it really break?"

"What happened to his soul? He used it to make the seal right?" Yukari worriedly said.

"Oh, come on guys. We're doing this to protect the world that Minato has entrusted to us. Let's get ready to kick some ass." Junpei tried to warm the mood up with his excitement. "Worry about that later. We'll know the answer if we keep fighting our way out of this."

"Calm down, Junpei." Akihiko told him, although his eyes said the otherwise. He seemed to be fired up because he was going to do some more fighting that he hadn't done since three years ago.

"Aki, cool your head down." Shinji advised his childhood friend. "I know that you're getting excited over this, but you should hold back that blood thirst a bit."

Their current leader, Mitsuru, was silent. She was doing _seiza_ in the middle of the room, eyes closed. Her hands were on her thighs. She was concentrating.

*Woof!* *Woof!*

She opened her eyes and looked at Koromaru who was beside her. She patted the dog's head, making it wagged its' tail. She smiled to the albino dog then turned her attention away.

"Alright guys, check your equipments again before the Dark Hour come!" she ordered the team. "We're leaving this place as soon as Dark Hour hits."

*Woof!* Koromaru barked again, as in agreement.

"Get yourself ready too, Koro-chan." Mitsuru spoke to him.

*Woof!* he then left her side and grabbed its' knife that Mitsuru had prepared for him.

"I hope nothing goes wrong tonight." Fuuka said with a doubtful face while looking at the window which showed a full moon.

* * *

Inaba, Shopping District

11:40 P.M.

* * *

'_It's almost midnight, huh..._' Souji looked at his watch. '_That running sure was exhausting._' Souji admitted to himself after what he had just done. He had run all the way from the Amagi Inn to the shopping district of Inaba in 20 minutes do the busses schedule that had ended for the day.

The street lights were glowing its' dim lights on the night empty street. The wind was blowing coldly. Silence filled the air as Souji was the only one there at that time.

'_Where was it again…_' Souji was searching for the entrance to the Velvet room, which was a huge mirror, placed on the pedestrian. '_I'm sure it was in front of the bookstore…_' Souji tried to remember the location of it.

Minutes passed, but he couldn't find the entrance. Suddenly, the Velvet key in his pocket glowed brightly. '_Huh? Why is this thing shining?_' he picked it out and placed it in his palm. The key then floated up and radiated a golden light. It flew in the air as if signalling Souji to follow it into an alleyway. In the end of the alleyway, was a dark blue colored door. They velvet key's light died down and it dropped to the ground in front of the door. Souji picked it up.

_'Is this… the entrance to the velvet room?_' Souji was unsure. '_It looks different from the old one. Oh well, I'll just try it._'

He inserted the key and turned it around, making a *Click* sound. The door then opened, blinding Souji with its' luminosity.

* * *

Velvet Room

Dark Hour

* * *

The silver haired man opened his eyes, greeted by 3 pairs of eyes in front of him.

"Good evening, my boy!" the long nosed man greeted his guest. "What can I do to help you tonight?"

"Evening Igor, Margaret, and… who are you?" Souji's face was quizzical as he saw the tall silver haired man.

"Oh, forgive me for the late introduction. I'm Theodore, Margaret's little brother." he answered and bowed to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Seta Souji."

"It's nice to meet you too, Theodore." Souji replied back, and diverted his attention to the long nosed man. "By the way, Igor, I want to ask you something."

"Sure, what can I help you?" Igor inquired.

"About the man that you told me last time, and the group, who are they exactly?" he spoke straight to the point.

"My, I can't give you the details but I'll tell you one more thing." Igor mischievously said. "Beware of the full moon." Igor smirked at Souji. "Or perhaps a story? What do you say, boy? Want to hear it?"

Souji was surprised at Igor's offer. He thought of it for awhile then nodded to him.

Igor grinned before he took a deep breath and started his tale…

"As the needle strike twelve, when the moon is at its' peak, the world shall turn into a diverse place. Shining its' emerald glow, the untamed 'facades' of the darkness of humanity shall become a beast, moving along the ground freely, baring its' claws and fangs. They ran around wildly in the tower to the moon, the dwelling that appears from the ground as the moon reaches its' peak. It is the 'home' of the fiends. When the moon is at its' fullest, you'll have to prepare for the worst. Those, who do not have the potential and awoken at the time, shall become the beasts' prey. But those, who have it and could control it, shall conquer them. Climbing to the top of the tower, fighting the creatures of the dark, believing and supporting each other, they have to defeat the ultimate being." Igor stopped for a moment, waiting for Souji's reaction.

"What happened then?" Souji asked him, indicating him to continue the story.

Igor then smiled and continued his story, "In the end, they still couldn't defeat it. But, one man, who had grained the ultimate power by uniting the bonds that he had made with his friends, the power of the universe, stood alone amongst his defeated friends. Sacrificing his soul, he managed to seal the 'Death'. Although he was supposed to be dead, his body was still moving on its' own. A small part of his spirit resided in it, only to fulfill the promise that him and his friends made before they fought their last battle. At last, their promise was accomplished and his remaining soul left the world, leaving his body lifeless. He became the seal of the immortal being for eternity, hoping that someday, his friends may be able to change the humanity."

Souji listened to Igor's explanation thoughtfully while Igor carried on…

"His friends, didn't know what he had done. All they know is that he had died because of defeating the godly existence. They didn't know that he had become the seal that protects the world. They were forced to go on another journey to find out the truth of his death. Well, they finally found out what their friend had done for them, for the world. They witnessed the process of his end and they managed to accept his death after seeing the reason why he had done it. They kept on going with their life, trying to save the humanity, in hope that his seal may not be broken."

Souji was silent for a few second before he spoke, "That's… quite a story." he admitted.

'_What does he mean by humanity's untamed 'facades'? Is it shadows?_' Souji's mind wandered. '_Does Margaret's story that she told me before has a connection with this story too?_'

He then noticed that Margaret was gazing at him.

"Margaret." he called her.

"Yes, Seta-san?"

"I assume that you are now open for service again, right?" Souji asked her. "Summarizing from Igor's story, I think I'll require my power of the personas."

"You are right." she smiled. A compendium materialized in front of her. She grabbed it and offered it to Souji. "You may use our service again. Your 'facades' are still kept safely in it."

Souji nodded and took it from her hand. He opened the page, one by one. He picked five of the cards in it and placed them in his pocket. He gave the book back to her, which she took gracefully from him.

"Now, I think I should head back." Souji said to them.

"I'm happy to be of your service for a second time, Seta-san." Margaret happily said and smiled.

"I'll take my leave then. It's nice to see you guys again." He waved his goodbye as he stood up from the sofa and walked to the door behind it.

"See you soon, my child." Igor said his farewell.

"Until next time." Margaret bowed, followed by Theodore's smile.

* * *

Inaba, Shopping District's Alleyway

11:50 P.M.

* * *

Souji stretched his hands up and yawned. '_I have to run again to the inn… What a pain._' he sighed. He looked up to the sky only to see the moon at its' full.

'_Beware of the full moon, huh?_' Souji was curious at the meaning of Igor's words. '_I guess I'll have to prepare for something… Ah, whatever. I'd better get going now, or they will start to get worried of me._' With that, he left the area and ran back to the Inn.

* * *

Amagi Inn, S.E.E.S. Room

11:58 P.M.

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. They were silent, waiting for the return of the dark hour, once again. Heart beats of each member could be heard faintly in the room. Their breaths were heavy, as they felt the pressure on their mind.

"Fuuka, has Chidori gone to sleep yet?" Junpei asked.

"Yes, she had gone to sleep since an hour ago." she answered.

"Good…" Junpei felt relieved. "I hope she won't be awake when the dark hour comes."

"Just in case, maybe you should stay in Chidori's room, Junpei-kun." Yukari suggested to him.

"Yeah, Junpei-san. I think you should stay there and protect her." Ken supported Yukari's idea. "We'll be alright on our own."

Yukari's and Ken's words made him think about changing the plan.

"I think… I'll do that." he decided to stay and look after Chidori. "Is that okay with you, Mitsuru-senpai?"

"It's okay, Iori. Koromaru will be helping you to do that." Mitsuru replied and told the albino dog to stay with Junpei. The dog barked, as if agreeing to her suggestion. "You do your job here and we'll do our job outside."

"Okay then, it's almost midnight in a few seconds. Prepare your equipments!" she ordered the team.

The team grabbed their weapons. They readied their evokers on their hand. Standing up, they readied their positions. All of them took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly. They tighten their grips on their weapon, sweats forming on their foreheads and palm of their hands. Closing their eyes, they prepared their heart as the needle of the clock reach XII.

10…

9…

8…

7…

6…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

The clock stopped at XII. The lights were out, blood-like liquid poured down from the walls, even gushing from the floor. The moon light turned green, giving an eerie feeling to those who looked at it.

"It's time to go guys!" Akihiko opened the sliding door. He carefully checked the outside of the room before walking out of it. "It's clear." he notified them.

One by one, they left the room, leaving only Junpei with Koromaru. "Be careful out there, guys. We don't know what kind of shadows are lurking in this place." he warned them.

"You be careful too, Junpei-san, Koro-chan." Fuuka, the last one of them to go out, advised them, as she slid the door close.

* * *

Investigation Team's Room

11:58 P.M.

* * *

Laughter could be heard again from the room. The team was still playing together and it seemed that Yosuke was persuaded to continue playing after he finally won twice in a row.

"Hahaha! I won again!" Yosuke pumped his fist into the air as he had just beaten Kanji.

"What? How did you do that, senpai?" Kanji quizzically asked after his lost.

"I guess lady luck is on my side tonight." Yosuke give himself a thumb up.

He didn't seem to care about his messed up face anymore and just laugh happily with them.

"Let me do the punishment, Rise-chan." he offered himself to help her.

"Sure, senpai! Here you go." she gave him the brush and the paint.

"Fufufu… Prepare yourself Kanji!" Yosuke ran towards him.

"W-w-wait!"

It was XII o'clock midnight. Without any warning, the lights were suddenly out, surprising them.

"W-what the hell?" Yosuke snapped.

"What happened?" Chie uttered.

"I don't know… Maybe a power shortage?" Naoto questioningly said. "Do you know anything, Yukiko-senpai?"

"Um… As a matter of fact, this happened too yesterday." she answered back. "Maybe I should go check the power box in the back…"

"Are you gonna be okay, going there alone?" Chie asked. "Maybe I should go with you."

"Well, why don't we all just go together." Rise suggested. "It'll be safer that way, in this kind of time."

"Ho… You're right, Rise. Let's go guys!" Yosuke excitedly said.

"What are you so excited about, Yosuke?" Teddie asked him.

"Oh, um… It's better than staying in this room anyway." Yosuke tried to make an excuse. '_Well, I don't want to be left in this room… Something could come up and surprised me… Please, let there be no ghosts here…_' Yosuke was a bit frightened in his mind but he managed to hide it from them.

* * *

Dark Hour

Amagi Inn's Hallway

* * *

The sliding door was opened, revealing a raven haired woman with her friends behind her. They walked out of the room one by one, quietly, as they tried not to disturb the guests. They moved together, lining up.

"Careful guys, its' quite hard to walk in this kind of darkness…" Yukiko, their current leader, whispered to them, which they replied with an 'okay'.

Not far from where they were walking, the S.E.E.S. Team were checking the inn's room one by one, searching for any 'active' people there, especially the landlady's daughter, Yukiko Amagi, the girl that they encountered night before. They need to protect her before she fall victim to the shadows.

...

"How is it, Aigis? You found anything on your side?" Akihiko asked his companion with a special transceiver.

"Nothing here, Akihiko-san. I haven't been able to locate Amagi-san either." her answer could be heard loud and clear through the small speaker. "What about your side?"

"Well, I guess it's the same with your side. No shadows spotted ei..." he suddenly stopped moving after he heard some footsteps not far from his position and signaled the two behind him to stop too. "I'm cutting this off Aigis, something is here…"

"What? Is it shadows?" her voice sounded distracted.

"I don't know yet, but its' moving closer to us. I can hear some steps."

"I'll get to you ASAP then."

"Please be."

*Buzz*

The communication was cut off.

Akihiko ordered Shinji and Ken to prepare for a battle as he continued to examine where the sound that he kept hearing since a minute ago coming from.

Ken and Shinji both tightened their grip on their weapons, preparing to attack on Akihiko's signal.

"Let's destroy those shadows!" Shinji muttered in a low voice, but he sounded excited.

"Wait Shinji." Akihiko stopped his movement, followed by the other two.

*Step* *Step*

_'Something's not right, the sounds indicated that there are a lot of them… Gotta do to this carefully._' Akihiko warned himself.

The sound of the footsteps gradually got louder as the source of them moved closer to the three.

They were hiding near a fork on the hallway, waiting for the perfect chance to do a surprise attack.

Akihiko finally whispered to the two, "On the count of three. One… two… three!"

The three guys jumped to launch their assault on the unidentified enemy.

"Uooooh!" Akihiko shouted.

...

Yosuke was walking in front of the group with Kanji besides him. The rest of them were following from behind, slowly, having being nervous because of the eerie darkness.

"Why is it so quiet here?" Chie muttered as she sensed the tense atmosphere surrounding the place. "What happened to the other guests? It's odd."

"Well, maybe they decided to go to sleep because there's nothing else to do in this kind of situation." Rise responded. "Let's not make a loud noise so they won't be disturbed by us."

"I agree, kuma~!" Teddie spout out in a low voice, followed by the team's nod.

They continued their walk along the dark hallway. Just as they were almost reached a fork, Kanji heard sounds of running steps approaching them from the front. His instinct kicks in and he immediately said, "Stop g-…"

Before Kanji could finish his warning, a silhouette of a man had passed him and hit Yosuke in the face. The impact of the punch threw Yosuke about 2 meters behind, shocking the entire group.

"Yosuke!" Chie reacted first, followed by Yukiko, Rise, Naoto and Teddie.

"Tch! Who the hell are you?" Kanji demanded an answer from the figure that had stopped his movement after he landed the attack to his teammate. He quickly raised his fist and tried to hit the figure.

Before he launched his attack, another 2 figure had already confronted him. Kanji dodged a spear and an axe that was launched to his stomach. He stepped back from the 3 attackers, the attacks had wrecked his clothes.

"Wow there! That was close." he said nervously as he grab his stomach which was almost injured fatally.

"Huh? You? You can talk? People? Wait, how can you move?" the first attacker asked them.

The green light from the moon of the dark hour penetrated the thin sliding door, revealing a silver headed guy, a brown haired man and teen with weapons on their hand.

...

"What is it, Aigis?" Yukari asked the blonde female android in front of her.

"It seems that Akihiko-san and the others are engaging the enemies. Let's go help them." Aigis clarified, giving her a nod from the brunette.

* * *

Amagi Inn, Lobby

Dark Hour

* * *

Mitsuru-san! Wait a moment! Something is coming this way." The cyan haired woman warned her senpai.

"A shadow?" she asked.

"No, it's something different. But… it feels odd…" the woman placed her hand onto her chest, trying to remember something. "This feeling, it feels nostalgic. Where have I felt this before…"

"Well, where is it coming from?"

"From the outside of the inn. It's closing in."

"Get behind the counter Fuuka. Hide yourself. We'll attack it once it comes inside here."

Souji's PoV

'_Finally arrived._' I wiped some sweats from my forehead. I had run from the shopping district to the inn. '_What time is it now…_'

I raised my hand to see the time on my wristwatch but something feels odd. '_Huh, what's wrong with the watch? The needles aren't moving. Is it out of battery?_' I thought while grabbing out my cell phone from my pocket. '_Is the battery dead too? That's strange…_'

I then looked up to the sky, only to see the green full moon radiating its' eerie aura. '_Why is the moon green? Isn't it supposed to be yellow in color?_' I wondered as I observed the night sky.

*SPLASH*

I stepped on a puddle of red colored water. 'Huh? What's this? The water's color is red… like blood…' I was a bit confused with the things that were happening around me. I decided to shrug it off and walked inside the inn.

*SLIDE*

I opened the sliding door and found out that the inn was dark. '_Did the electricity get cut off?_' I wondered as I stepped inside.

While walking slowly, I felt a killing intent directed towards me. I could see a glimpse of silver metallic object coming from the front. Instinctively, I dodge it by moving to the left side. The green light from the moon shone into the room a little bit, giving me a sight of the object.

'_A rapier?_' I instantly recognized the shape of the weapon after all of the battle I had in the TV world. The blade of the rapier was about one meter long with beautiful engravings on it. The hilt was dyed with golden color and shaped like a rose. Then, a scarlet haired figure flew pass me, right after the attack.

(Try to imagine the scene while in slow motion :D)

I quickly readied my stance and prepare for another attack. This time, the rapier was aimed towards my left arm. I evaded it by stepping to the right side and counter it by jumping on to my opponent with my fist ready.

He stopped midway of the strike as soon as he knew that he was going to be attacked by me and immediately sprung backward, making me miss my target.

"Tch!" A woman's voice could be heard.

'_A __Woman? She's pretty skilled._' I thought as I tried to recover my balance.

*BANG*

A sound of a gunshot could be heard loudly in the inn, followed by sound of glasses shattered into pieces and a blue lights brimming in the air, forming a woman figure.

"Artemisia! Bufudyne!"

I shivered after hearing that word. 'Bufudyne? How did she…?'

I swiftly jumped from my spot to escape the incoming giant ice spears coming to me.

*CRASH*

The spears impaled onto the spot where I had just stood seconds ago, freezing the floor.

'_How did she call out a persona in the real world? I thought that you can only use them in the TV world?_' I wondered while readying my guard stance.

"I won't let you get away!" the woman said to me with an angry voice.

*BANG*

I heard another gunshot.

"Bufudyne!"

Again, barrages of huge ice spears came towards me.

'_If she could summon a persona here, then maybe I could do it too._' I concluded.

I then tried to summon my persona, not knowing of whether it will work or not.

'_If it doesn't work then I'm in danger…_' I thought while concentrating.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of power coming to me. The similar feeling I recognized after I called personas countless times before. Blue tarot card with the 'world arcana' formed in front of me.

"Persona!" I said as I crushed the card, which was smashed into pieces.

A figure of a white coated man, wearing a helmet and wielding a naginata, appeared above me.

I shouted its' name and commanded it, "Izanagi no Ookami! Agidyne!"

I had summoned my strongest persona to negate the incoming ice spears with fireballs, making an explosion of steam in the process.

"What?" It seems that she was shocked to see what had just happened. "A Persona? Are you a persona user?" she demanded an answer.

"Mitsuru-san!"

Another woman's voice came out from behind the counter which the woman before was standing in front of.

"He IS a persona user! He has the potential. I can sense it."

"Then, are you a member of Strega?" the woman who seemed to be called Mitsuru, questioned me.

"What is Strega?" I replied back with a query. "I have never heard of it before."

"So then, you are not part of Strega, huh?" The woman lowered her rapier and relaxed her voice. "Tell me your name then."

"It's Souji, Seta Souji."

* * *

Hallway, Amagi Inn

Dark hour

* * *

"Who are you guys!" Akihiko insisted an answer from them.

"The hell, Aki! Calm down a bit!" the brown haired man smacked his ally's head in the back with his left palm. "Look at them! They're high schoolers idiot!" his voice sounded a bit irritated.

"Ouch... That hurts you know, Shinji!" the man called Aki reacted to the hit while rubbing the back of his head. "Are you guys part of Strega?"

"S-Stray…guy? Huh? We aren't lost or anything…" Kanji answered, his voice a bit tensed.

*SMACK*

"See Aki, they're not Strega." The man with a beanie on his head said again after hitting the back of the silver haired man's head.

"Uguh…" the guy called Aki was squatting, grabbing the spot where he was hit. "You don't have to do it twist…"

"You know Akihiko-san, Shinji-san is right. You had just injured a high school student and we almost slashed that tall guy there." The brown haired teen pointed at Kanji, who was breathing nervously after almost taking a slash from a spear and an axe. "It's all because of your order to attack them as soon as they reach our range of attack."

"Wait, what?" Kanji who had heard the boy's explanation was dumbfounded.

The girls behind him were quickly moving towards Yosuke, who was knocked down by Akihiko's punch and gathered around him in circle.

"Hey, wait a sec! You also told me to attack first!" the silver haired man retorted back.

"Well, it's your fault for not really checking what was approaching us." Shinji added, agreed by Ken who was nodding his head off.

While the three were arguing, Yosuke, who was surrounded by the girls, was slowly gaining his consciousness again after the concussion that he got.

"Uh..." Yosuke moaned. His gaze travelled along the ceiling. His vision was blurred.

"Are you okay, Yosuke?" Chie talked to him, trying to confirm his condition.

"Uh... I guess..." he replied weakly.

He then stood up, grabbing the hand that Chie offered.

"Oi, are you okay?" Akihiko, who had finished quarreling with his team, asked him. "I'm really sorry about that." He scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, i-it's okay…" Yosuke stuttered, while rubbing the spot where he was hit. "Though it kinda stings where you hit me… Ouch!" he yelped when he accidentally pressed the place where it hurts the most.

"Geh…" Akihiko backed out as he felt the glare his two teammates besides him gave, like they were saying 'It's your fault!'.

"By the way, Sanada-senpai… We're on a mission right? Shouldn't we go and get them to a safe place." Ken, the youngest of the trio, interrupted with a 'as a matter fact' tone.

"Oh, right. Hey you guys!" Akihiko shouted to the group in front of him.

"W-what?" Kenji, the other silver haired man in the place, responded to the man. He raised his fist up as his reflex, being wary of the three men in front of him.

"You guys should go with us. This place is not safe."

"What do you mean by that?" Naoto demanded an explanation. "Sure it is dangerous because of the black out here, but why do we have to go with you guys?"

"Yeah… I mean, this place is safe. I assure you." Yukiko also replied. "I'm the daughter of the owner of this inn."

"Anyway... Just follow us for now." The brunette teen insisted them.

"Huh? What is this feeling…" Rise suddenly murmured behind them.

"What's wrong Rise-chan?" Teddie heard Rise said something and asked her but he felt something odd too. "This smell… This feeling… No way?"

"What happened Teddie? Rise-chan?" Chie questioned the two who were acting odd.

"This is… a shadow… In the real world?" Rise exclaimed. "It can't be?"

Just after she said that the ground shook heavily.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

Sounds of explosions could be heard from the front of the inn.

"Wha..?" Akihiko was surprised. "Mitsuru? Did she already start a battle with a shadow?"

"We need to get to her right now!" Shinji quickly regained his composure and told his teammates to act quickly.

"Let's go!" Ken nodded.

"You guys! Follow us!" Akihiko ordered the teenagers to go with them.

"Why do we have to?" Yosuke asked again.

"Shut it and just follow us! It's for your own safety!" Shinji instructed them, raising his voice.

The Investigation Team members were speechless and finally agreed to follow them. They started to ran, following the trio in front of them from behind.

"Rise? Ted? Are you guys okay?" feeling worried, yosuke asked their conditions. "Are you sure there's a shadow in the real world?"

"I'm not sure… But this presence… It definitely belongs to a shadow." Teddie answered Yosuke's question.

"And a powerful one, I think." Rise added. "The reading is very hazy… I can't really confirm it."

"Then, does that mean that these guys know about the shadows?" Chie drew out a conclusion.

"Probably…" Naoto cleared their doubt. "Let's just follow them and see what they are going to do next."

* * *

Amagi Inn, Lobby

Dark Hour

* * *

"Seta-san…" the scarlet haired woman spoke. "You are a persona user too?"

"Yes… I am." Souji replied. "What of it?"

"I see… I just have one question."

"What is it?"

"How did you summon your persona?" Mitsuru questioned him.

"Yeah… I didn't hear any gun shot…" Fuuka, who had came out of her hiding place, wondered too. "How did you summon your persona, Seta-san?"

"Eh? What do you mean by gun shot?"

"Well, you know…"

Before Mitsuru could explain things to him, black oozes were rapidly appearing from the small gap of the wooden floor and moving together to form huge black blobs.

"Mitsuru-san! Incoming!" Fuuka warned her partner as she sensed the danger that was coming to them.

"Seta-san, I trust you know about shadows?" Mitsuru inquired. "After seeing your counter before, I won't doubt your ability and your knowledge of fighting these shadows."

"Sure. Let me help you." Souji, confidently agreed to Mitsuru's proposal.

"Fuuka! Please scan those enemies and tell us their weaknesses!"

"Alright, Mitsuru-san. Wait a moment."

"So you have your own 'scanner' too?" Souji asked.

"Just so you know, I used to be a scanner type, but my power is way below her level." Mitsuru answered his question. "So I decided to join the front line."

"Really?" Souji looked a bit surprised. "By the way, just how in the world did these shadows come to the real world?"

"What do you mean by that?" Mitsuru seemed puzzled by Souji's statement.

Seeing as she was clueless about what he was talking about, Souji dismissed the issue as he dodged one of the fireball directed to him.

"I guess we'll talk about this later. Let's finish these guys off first." Souji leaped back and summoned his persona again.

Blue tarot card formed in front of him, swirling around.

Mitsuru who was looking at the occurrence was wondering of what he is going to do.

*CRASH*

Souji then crushed the card with his barehand, creating a glass breaking sound. Blue light was quickly gathering behind him, forming a persona.

"Izanagi no Ookami! Ziodyne!"

Souji called the Divine Deity persona and destroyed his attacker with bolts of lightning in a flash.

"You're… pretty good." Mitsuru praised him, feeling impressed after witnessing his quick reaction and powerful magic he used. "And is that really how you summon your persona?"

"Thank you, and yes, that's how I summon my persona."

Souji then stood firm, preparing another attack while waiting for Fuuka's analysis on the shadows.

A shadow moved towards Fuuka, noticing that she's defenseless.

"I won't let you!" Mitsuru shouted after looking at the shadow and dashed, preparing her rapier.

The shadow spotted Mitsuru's incoming attack and diverted its' attention to her.

"Humph!"

Mitsuru dodged the shadow's claw and stabbed it right in the center of its body. The shadow didn't dissipate like she anticipated so she pulled out her rapier and summon a persona.

Souji who was looking at her was shocked when he saw that she was pointing a gun to her head.

"Wai..!" Souji shouted, but he was too late…

*BANG*

Sound of glasses breaking could be heard after the gun shot. Blue glass fragments were flowing into the air, forming a woman wearing a red masquerade and a black dress, covered with golden armor.

"Artemisia! Bufudyne!"

The persona she summoned quickly launched spears of ice towards the now immobilized shadow which it then dissolved into the air.

Souji was dumbfounded after the event that he was blinking in surprise for a few seconds.

He finally, opened his mouth and said, "That's… awesome."

"Thank you, Seta-san. And, watch your back." Mitsuru informed him.

Another shadow was trying to catch Souji off guard but Mitsuru's warning was right on the spot. Souji immediately stepped aside and turned back to look at the shadow.

"I'm finished with the analyzing, Mitsuru-san! The shadows don't have any weaknesses! But they don't have any elemental or physical resistance! So you can just attack them with anything."

"Thank you, Fuuka. Let's do this, Seta-san."

'_What's this feeling coming from him… It feels familiar…_' Fuuka thought after she finished all the analyzing. She took the chance to analyze the young man too.

"Here we go…" Souji summoned Izanagi no Ookami again. "Megidolaon!"

Purplish beams of powerful force appeared from the ceiling, hitting some of the remaining shadows, dissipating them into the air.

Mitsuru, again, put the special designed gun to her head and fired it at blank range. Artemis emerged from the blue fragments that were gathering behind Mitsuru.

"Mabufudyne!"

Artemisia fired several huge ice spears to the remaining shadows, destroying them in a few seconds.

"I guess that's …"

Mitsuru was cut by Fuuka's sudden shout.

"Mitsuru-san! A big one is coming from the outside of the inn! Its reading is… different from the previous shadows." Fuuka's face was pale. "It's the arcana shadow!"

"What? How can that be? I thought we had already 'destroyed' them?"

"I don't know, but I'm certain that this is an arcana shadow!"

Souji was looking at the two women, speaking with each other. He then decided to go outside the inn and confront the shadow.

"Hey, wait a second! Come back here, Seta-san!"

Mitsuru who realized what Souji was doing, ordered him to stop. But he had already opened the door and ran outside.

* * *

Amagi Inn, Front Gate

Dark Hour

* * *

Souji, who had gone outside on an impulse, didn't see anything in front of the inn's gate.

He suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

The asphalt ground in front of the gate immediately turned black. The darkness spreads rapidly, engulfing almost five meters wide of the road.

After that, the darkness began changing its' form into a gigantic mass of black ooze.

Souji was stunned. He didn't think that the shadow was going to be this huge.

"This is bad…" Mitsuru, who was now standing beside Souji, said.

"If we're to fight this thing here, the damage it would do to the surroundings (inn) will be fatal." Fuuka explained.

"Let's push it back so it will not destroy the inn." Mitsuru suggested.

"Alright." Souji nodded. He then heard running steps coming from inside the inn.

"Mitsuru!" a man's voice came.

"Akihiko! Shinji! Ken! Good timing. We need to drive this thing back so it won't cause any damage to the inn." Mitsuru told the trio, who had just arrived, her plan.

"Okay! But we have some company with us."

"Oi… Wait for us!" Souji could hear his friend's voice, Yosuke, coming from the direction the men had just came from.

"I'm very… tired-kuma." Now it's Teddie's voice.

"You guys came too?" Souji asked his team that had just arrived too, following the trio.

"So you are here, Souji…" Yosuke looked at their team leader.

"Wait, whoa!" Kanji was shocked to see what was in front of them. "What's with that huge shadow?"

"That's where the strange reading is coming from!" Rise immediately clarified while trying to regain her composure.

"This thing has a different feeling than the usual shadow-kuma!" Teddie further explained.

"That thing looks dangerous…" Yosuke said, feeling nervous.

"We have to fight this thing?" Chie asked, feeling confused at what's happening.

"Are you serious?" Naoto was taken aback by the size of the shadow.

"How do we fight this thing?" Yukiko questioned.

"Mitsuru-san! Guys!" a woman's voice came.

"Yukari! Aigis!" Mitsuru called to the two women who appeared from the lobby of the inn.

"Aigis told me that there's a huge shadow in… Whoa?" Yukari was stunned after seeing the huge object in front of them. "That thing is enormous!"

"It seems like this will be a troublesome battle." Aigis confirmed her intuition.

"Seta-san! Are your friends here can help us?" Mitsuru asked the silver haired teen.

"I think so… If I can summon a persona here, then maybe they can also do it." Souji answered.

"Good, then please tell them to fight this thing together. We'll try to hold them for a few minutes. Explain the things as fast as possible." Mitsuru ordered him.

"Understood." Souji quickly turned towards his friends and told them what exactly happened.

…

"So, we need to defeat that shadow?" Rise raised her hand and questioned Souji.

"And we can use our personas to do that?" Yukiko asked.

"How do we summon our personas here? Isn't it only works in the TV world?" Kanji was confused.

"And those people can summon personas too?" Naoto tried to confirm her suspicions.

"Basically, yes. We can summon our personas here to defeat that shadow. It works just like in the TV world." Souji responded. "And those people can summon personas too, Naoto."

"Let me try it…" Yosuke immediately prepared to summon his persona. He concentrated a bit before a blue tarot card materialized in front of him.

He instinctively destroyed the card by slashing it with his hand, having no weapon prepared.

Flash of blue lights gathered above Yosuke, creating the red haired and blue long jump suited persona with the circling blade around him, Susano-o.

"Whoa! It works!" Yosuke happily exclaimed.

"Okay guys. Now that you know how to summon your persona, let's help them." Souji told them.

"By the way, Souji-kun. How do you know about this?" Chie questioned their leader.

"I learnt it by a chance." His response was short, giving him a sigh from his friends.

"Are their methods of calling persona the same as us?" Teddie asked on an impulse. "How do they exactly call their personas?"

"Oh, about that…"

"Oi! What the hell are you…" Yosuke suddenly shouted to the silver haired man that hit him as he was pointing a gun to his head. The Investigation Team's attention was instantly directed to Akihiko after hearing Yosuke's cry.

*BANG*

Followed by the sound of breaking glasses, the blue fragments that appeared after the gun was fired gathered above Akihiko. The silver armored persona, holding a silver sword on his right hand and a globe on the left hand, hovered above him before Akihiko command it.

"Caesar! Ziodyne!"

*BOOM*

The lightning bolt struck the giant blob, forcing it to move back a bit.

"And that's how they summon their persona." Souji wrapped off his explanation after the live demonstration that was just done by Akihiko.

The Investigation Team members were dumbfounded.

Yosuke's mouth was opened, not believing what just happened.

Chie, Rise, and Yukiko had their hands on their face, covering their eyes from seeing the supposed to be bloody scene.

Kanji was dumbstruck as he was just standing there, eyeing Akihiko and the others who were starting to summon their persona with the same style too.

Teddie whistled after seeing that event and said, "Cool…"

Naoto was surprised at the sudden development that she only blinks a few times.

"So let's get starting guys." Souji tried to encourage his teammates.

"O-oh…" they responded.

…

"Shinji! Hit him hard!" Akihiko told his partner.

"Stop ordering me around, Aki! Sheesh…" Shinji complained. "Castor! God's Hand!"

Shinji summoned his persona, Castor, and released a powerful strike towards the huge shadow.

*BAM*

The shadow was knocked backwards, giving it some distance from the inn.

"Alright! Now we can attack it with ease!" Mitsuru said to them. "Fuuka! Analyse the enemies power!"

"Okay, Mitsuru-san! Please wait for a moment!"

"Yukari, Aigis. Support us and give us some buffs." Mitsuru ordered the two.

"Roger that, Mitsuru-san." Aigis replied and summoned Athena. "Athena! Marakukaja!"

"Mitsuru-senpai… I want to help in the battle too." Yukari pleaded.

"Well, just be our support for this battle. Next time, I'll let you in the battle." Mitsuru refused her kouhai's begging.

"Aw… Alright then… I'll just hit it with some arrows and wind spells…"

"That's okay. Let's just finish this quick and get some rest."

"Kala Nemi! Vile Assault!" Ken summoned his persona and commanded it to attack the giant shadow in front of him.

The shadow was already hit with a lot of damage, but it didn't show any sign of weakening.

"Guys!" Fuuka shouted. "It's the arcana shadow of the fool! I couldn't get any weakness or resistance data from it, but it has quite a high defense."

"So we need to hit him harder, huh?" Akihiko simplified Fuuka's explanation.

Just as he was trying to summon his persona, the shadow suddenly threw its' snake like arm to Akihiko, knocking him down.

"Oi Aki! You oka…"

*BAM*

"Guh…" Shinji barely managed to block the shadows arm that hit Akihiko before. But the force was big enough that he was driven backwards for two meters.

*ROAR*

The shadow roared, sending chills to them.

"The reading is becoming weird!" Fuuka exclaimed. "Something's wrong with the shadow!"

A purplish cloud was formed above the area where the S.E.E.S. team was fighting.

"Megidolaon?" Ken was startled as soon as he realized what the shadow was going to release.

"Everybody! Take cover!" Mitsuru ordered the team, but it was too late.

*KABOOM*

The beam of light struck the ground where the members of the team were standing, knocking them down.

"Guys! Are you alright?" Fuuka who was unharmed because she was out of the range of the attack, asked them.

"Ngh… I'm feeling not so good…" Ken replied first.

"Me too…" Yukari responded.

"I'm… okay…" Aigis stuttered as she tried to stand up again.

Shinji, Akihiko, and Mitsuru who was near the the boss and got hit directly was lying on the ground.

"Ku… I can't move my body…" Shinji said.

"That's pathetic, Shinji…" Akihiko mocked him.

"Look at yourself, Aki. You can't even move your finger."

"Meh… It just caught me off guard."

"You two… Stop arguing and concentrate on this shadow. *Cough**Cough*" Mitsuru was on her knees, trying to get up with the help of her rapier.

The injured S.E.E.S. team suddenly felt a warm feeling from their body. The injuries were healed in a few seconds.

"Whoa? Who used this?" Ken was surprised at the unexpected help.

"It's alright now."

Souji walked to the front line, with the persona Sandalphon, floating above him. He had just casted Salvation, healing all of the injured S.E.E.S. Team.

"Wait… You… That's… You can change your persona?" Mitsuru who had just found out about it, was taken aback.

"What?" Akihiko said in disbelief. "He can change persona?"

"No way…" Yukari who heard it was stunned.

"Why…? How was he able to do it?" Aigis was full of doubt in her heart.

"He's the same as 'him'…?" Ken whispered.

"So that's what I was feeling from back then" Fuuka cleared her guess.

"Guys! Hit them with all we got!" Yosuke who was standing next to Souji, cried out. "Let's do an All-Out-Attack!"

All of the Investigation Team members summoned their persona together. Chie with Suzuka Gongen, Yukiko with Amaterasu, Kanji with Rokuten Maoh, Naoto with Yamato Takeru, Yosuke with Susano-o, Teddie with Kamui, Rise with Kanzeon, and Souji with Izanagi no Ookami.

Souji had just switched back his persona so that he could go together with the All-Out-Attack.

"On three!" Yosuke signaled them.

"One! Two! Three! GO!" he shouted.

Their persona immediately went to strike the shadow.

Yamato Takeru strike the shadow with its' thin blade. Rokuten Maoh slashed it with its' flame blade. Suzuka Gongen directed its' long lance towards the roaring shadow. Susano-o was charging to it with its' circling saw rotating rapidly, creating a buzzing sound. Kamui readied its' sharp claws. Amaterasu was preparing its' fire magic, agidyne. Izanagi no Ookami was behind them, waiting for its' chance to hit the shadow with its' strongest attack.

All of the attack hit the shadow almost simultaneously, knocking the shadow down. But it didn't last long, the shadow tried to get up again.

"Whoa? This guy is tough." Kanji stated.

Souji took a step forward and raised his hand.

"Izanagi no Ookami!"

The Divine Deity heeded his call and moved back behind him.

"Myriad Truth!"

The persona then made a gesture as if it was pulling a bow. Lights begin to glow and formed a white giant bow with an arrow of light prepared to be shot. The ray of light began to shine brighter, agitating the shadow which was now screeching and started charging towards Souji.

"Souji-kun! Look out!" Yukiko warned him.

Souji looked to Yukiko, giving her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. I'll finish this." he said.

Izanagi no Ookami released its' grip on the ray of light and it flew towards the raging shadow, hitting it in the center of its body.

The shadow released a loud growl before its body began to disintegrate into the air.

...

The S.E.E.S. members were awed by the actions that the Investigation Team did.

"So those guys can call persona too…" Akihiko uttered.

"Their method of calling the persona is different from us." Shinji spoke out.

"And that man, Seta Souji, could summon multiple personas…" Mitsuru clarified. "Just like 'him'."

"His power is the same as 'him'…" Aigis said, not believing what she just saw.

"How can that be?" Yukari's feelings were struggling inside her. Not knowing of what to do, she knelt on the ground.

The I.T. members walked towards them and asked them whether anybody else is still feeling not good.

Mitsuru answered, "We're okay, and thank you for your assistance."

The scarlet haired woman stood up and walked towards Souji. She offered her hand for a handshake and Souji took it.

"So, might you be willing to introduce me to your friends there later?" Mitsuru asked him, feeling curious of the team. "They're also persona users, am I correct?"

"Oh, yes. They're all persona users." Souji cleared. "What do you mean by later? You don't want to meet them now?"

"I do want to meet them now… But…"

As Mitsuru halted her words, the green light from the moon suddenly was replaced by the usual yellow colored moon. The pools of red liquid in the road were now gone. The lights from the inn were all returned to normal.

"We need to get some rest for now." She continued.

"Um, I want to ask you about that 'green moon'and..." Souji added.

"I'll answer all of your questions tomorrow morning. Come to our meeting room in the inn at 9 o'clock." Mitsuru gave him a firm smile. "We also need to ask you guys a lot of things. Especially that power of yours."

Though she doesn't show it, Souji could feel a slight anxiousness from her smile when she said about his power. He looked at her face and saw that there was a hint of sorrowfulness in her 2 eyes that was eyeing him.

"You have the same aura as 'him'…" she muttered softly.

'_Him?_' Souji wanted to ask of who's the guy she mentioned, but he decided to not do it and nodded his head, dismissing the sentences that she had said and chose to question her about it later.

"I think your friends are also tired" she looked at the I.T. members behind him who seemed to be worn out. "They sure need some rest and you probably need some too. It should be safe now. The shadows won't appear for the rest of the night again."

Hearing that, Souji's tensed body was relaxed but the feeling of fatigue hit him unexpectedly. Just like she said, he and his teammates would surely need some rest for the night.

"Alright." Souji agreed to her suggestion. "I will tell my friends about this."

"Good then. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning then." She turned her back and walked towards her waiting comrades. "Oh, and ask where my room is to the receptionist. Just tell her that you guys are invited by me."

"Okay." Souji nodded and moved to where his friends were waiting.

The S.E.E.S. members were now walking inside the inn, going back to their respective rooms, while the I.T. was still outside, discussing what had just happened.

Souji told them that they should get some rest for now. Tomorrow, they'll get their explanation for all the things that had happened.

Kanji yawned as he felt the fatigue that's coming to him, followed by the rest of the team. On the way back, Yosuke was being a bit annoying because he kept nagging Souji about what's his relationship with the heiress of the Kirijo Group, Mitsuru Kirijo. Souji seemed rather quite cool, despite not knowing that he had fought the 'president of the famous Kirijo Group' before and had just been aware of that after Yosuke told him about her.

Naoto was deep in her thought after Souji finished his report of the current condition, walking at the back of the group with Rise besides her. Rise was rubbing her eyes, feeling sleepy. Yukiko and Chie were in front of the two, their body feeling sluggish after the event that drained their power. Teddie, Kanji, Yosuke, and Souji, were walking ahead together. They were talking about how Yosuke got hit in the face by the silver haired man in the Kirijo's group and when Kanji was about to be injured by attacks from the other two members of the group. Souji could only nod at that as he was already tired from the incident.

On the way there, Souji stopped his movement suddenly, giving him looks of questions from his friends.

"What's wrong Souji-kun?" Yukiko asked him.

"I just remembered. I need to go check on our blue haired friend that we left on the inn before." he answered. "I hope he's okay."

"Oh, alright then." Chie responded.

"We'll go to our room first then." Yosuke said to him.

"Sure. I'll be right back."

"G'night Sensei." Teddie yawned after saying that and walked towards the room they were staying, followed by the others.

Souji walked to the room where he left Minato before. He slid the door open and looked inside the room.

The room was dark, but there were small lightings from the illuminating moon outside the night sky, giving Souji a sight of the room.

His eyes traveled to the futon that was laid on the center of the room, looking for the blue haired person. But he couldn't find anybody laying there. There was nobody inside the room.

* * *

So...

We're really sorry for the (very) not frequent update...

There seems to be some OOC (especially for Souji's part) here... and some mistypo, probably... Maybe the story is a bit weird, huh? (What do you guys think after reading this?)

Hopefully, it's not that bad. :D

This will be our Christmas and New Year present for you guys!

We hope you guys enjoy it!

Give us some reviews pelase.

Critics are also welcomed.

Have a fun Christmas and New Year holidays!

and by the way... (SPOILER ALERT)

.

.

.

The next chapter will have some 'Hamuko x Minato' story there :)

C ya guys next time!


	5. Chapter 4

Renewed Contract

Chapter 4

The Hidden Time and the Overture of the Fate

* * *

_A blue haired young boy was running through the rain. He was panting over, exhausted after running for a complete one hour around the city._

"_Hamu-chan! Where are you?" He was looking for someone. "Hamu-chan!" he called out again. _

_No answer… He then tried to search around the area, running around the place with a concerned look. People who were passing by wondered why the little boy was running around in a heavy rain without an umbrella._

_Not far from there, a young girl with a red hair was hiding behind a trashcan near an alleyway, sitting alone under the pouring rain. She heard the boy's call and recognized the voice._

_She took a peek from the side to see the boy running frantically around the place, looking for her. She then hide again and bury her face in her knees. Before long, tears started to flow down her cheeks along with the raindrops. _

"_I don't want to go home, onii-chan…" she sniffled. "I don't want to see mom and dad arguing anymore…" *sob* *sob* she continued to cry._

"_So this is where you were hiding…"_

_The red haired girl was startled as she heard her brother's voice from behind her. She looked up and saw her brother's face, smiling down at her. A smile filled with caring and gentleness._

"_Onii-chan…" she whispered._

"_Let's go back home, Hamu-chan." He said while moving to her front. He offered his hand to help her stand up. "You're gonna get sick if you don't go back immediately, you know?" he smiled again._

_Hamuko, after seeing what her brother did, cried louder._

"_I don't wanna! I hate seeing mom and dad fighting against each other!" she said, her voice trembling. "I don't want them to divorce!"_

'_Eh? Is that the reason why she ran away from home?' the boy thought. He then kneeled down and touched her cheek. He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs. _

"_It's alright. They won't divorce, Hamu-chan." He tried to comfort her. "Mom and dad are worried about you." _

"_No, I don't wanna! If they don't stop fighting, I won't come back home!" she cleared herself._

"_Listen to me, Hamuko. Everything is gonna be alright. Trust me, okay?" he calmed her. "Even if they do divorce, I promise I will always protect you. I will never let anything bad happen to you."_

_Hamuko looked straight into her brother's honest eye. His eyes were showing affection and seriousness. She calmed down after hearing him. The rain slowly stopped pouring, leaving behind pools of water on the street._

"_Do you really promise me that you'll always protect me?"_

"_Yes, I do."_

"_Pinky swear?" she took up her hand and put out her pinky finger in front of the boy's face._

"_Pinky swear." the blue haired boy offered his pinky finger._

"_Alright!" she jumped up and entwined her pinky finger with his'. "If you break your promise you'll have to swallow a thousand needles!"_

'_Eh?!' he was surprised to hear that. 'Did I just mishear something?' "Uh, Hamu-chan, do I have to swallow a thousand needles if I broke the promise?" he tried to confirm what he had just heard with a troubled face._

"_Of course!" she said with a carefree face. He sweat dropped but managed to shrug it off with a small laugh. "Ahaha. Don't worry. I won't break my promise to you."_

"_Now let's go back home, it's getting late. Mommy and Daddy are gonna get really worried if we don't come back soon. We'll have to dry ourselves too if we don't want to catch a cold." He suggested._

"_Okay, onii-chan!" she happily replied her big brother. "Let's go!"_

_The both of them ran to their home, grabbing hands._

…

_The rain had stopped pouring and the sun had already sunk beneath the horizon, replaced with the half moon._

_When they were near their house, they could see a couple was waiting in front of the house. A middle aged man with a brown ruffled short hair, wearing a blue uniform, and a dark blue long haired woman, who looked like she was in her 20's, wearing a brownish red long dress. Upon closer look, you could see a worried expression on their faces, especially the woman. She looked like she had been crying before._

_Hamuko, seeing her mother, rushed to her and embraced her, with her eyes began to get teary._

"_I'm sorry for making you worried mom." She cried again. "I'm really sorry… I'll never do this again."_

"_I'm sorry to you too, my dear. We didn't mean to make you sad." She replied and hugged her daughter tighter. Drops of tears could be seen flowing out from her eyes._

_The young boy who was observing the situation that's happening in front of him looked to his father. His father did the same and smiled at him, giving him his thumbs up._

_The boy reflexively looked away, trying to hide his embarrassed face. His father chuckled after seeing his son's reaction. _

"_Come here you guys!" the man said as he hugged the three of them._

"_Guh…"the boy grunted as he was pressed inside his father's arms._

"_Um… Dad, we can't breath…" Hamuko said as she was starting to suffocate because of his tight embrace._

"_Honey, you should let go" his wife told him, feeling the slight pressure too and worried about her children's frail body._

"_Oh, sorry." He released his hug and scratched the back of his head while grinning at them._

"_Sorry to make both of you worried." The man apologized. "To make it up, we're going to go on a picnic to the Tatsumi Port Island tomorrow! How is that?"_

"_Really? Really, Dad?" Hamuko asked with a glittery eyes, feeling happy after hearing her father's announcement._

"_Yes, dear. Tomorrow we're going to go there." The woman cleared. _

"_Yay!" Hamuko jumped happily and hugged her father._

_The boy smiled at the two and faced his mother. She smiled at him and called him, waving her hand. He then walked slowly to his mother._

"_What is it, mom?"_

_The woman suddenly hugged him, surprising him in the process._

"_You did a great job finding your sister." She whispered to his ear. "I'm sorry we made you angry at us too back there."_

_After hearing his mother's explanation, he hugged her back and said, "It's okay mom. I understand."_

"_Well, we were almost got beaten by some punks on our way here, but…" the boy murmured_

"_What?!" his mother was shocked to hear that and released their hug. She looked to her son's face, looking for any trace of injuries if he had fought the thugs._

"_It's alright now mom. We're okay, right? So don't worry." he soothed his mother by giving her a gesture that he was not injured in anywhere._

_His mother sighed. "You have really grown…" she said to her son, feeling relieved. His mother's word made him blushed. "Now let's go inside. We need to dry you kids up or you'll catch a cold tomorrow."_

"_Alright." He replied._

_They walked inside to their house, leaving the cold and windy street outside. The boy was the last one to enter the house. In front of him was his little sister who had stopped her pace and was now blocking his path. The blue haired boy only stood there, waiting for her to continue walking._

_Unexpectedly, she turned around swiftly and looked to her brother with a big smile. Her hands were tugged behind her back._

"_Thank you, Minato nii-chan." She said as she moved closer to him._

_The young boy felt a soft feeling on her cheek as the girl suddenly kissed him, making his cheek dyed in red because of the awkwardness. _

"_H-hey!" he stuttered, surprised with her abrupt action._

"_Tehee! You had better keep your promise okay, Minato nii-chan!" she smiled brightly to him._

_He nodded while grabbing his right cheek that had just been kissed by her sister, still blushing._

'_I will always protect you, Hamuko.'_

…

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn

January 2nd, 2013

Dark Hour

* * *

He slowly opened his eyes. '_Mh… Where am I…?_' Blinking, he tried to adjust his eyes to his dark surroundings. '_What was I doing…?_' his mind wandered as he just woke up from his slumber.

"….."

'… _A dream…_' He raised his right hand and looked into his palm. '_It felt so nostalgic…_'

He touched his right cheek, trying to remember the sensation of her sister's kiss. His face looked sad.

'_Hamuko… I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise._' He thought while showing an expressionless, regretful face.

He stayed like that for a while, trying to gather his mind. '_Pharos…_' He got a sudden headache as his mind started to remembering things. He grabbed his head with his left hand, enduring the pain.

'_How did I come back to life? Shouldn't I be the seal of Nyx? … Wait a second… the voice?_' He recalled that he had heard someone's voice when he was alone in the darkness. '_Was that, Elizabeth?_'

"Ugh…" the pain unexpectedly got worst, making him curse under his breath.

Minutes passed as he endured the pain in his head. It finally subdued, leaving him panting over. He decided to get up, putting his hands on his sides and got into a sitting position.

'_Still no good, huh? This body that is…_' he clenched his fist after feeling the difficulty just to sit up straight on the futon. He rested for awhile, waiting for his energy to recover a bit.

His first attempt to push himself up had failed as he fell back to the futon. He forced himself and finally he was able to get up from the futon.

*huff* *huff*

He was panting rather heavily. He started to walk slowly but he almost stumbled down. Luckily, he managed to get his body to the wall before falling. '_What a pain…_' he complained to himself as he started sweating.

He continued to try walking along the wall and made it his support. He was able to get to the sliding door and opened it.

'_What is this place?_' he thought as he looked around the hallway. '_It's quite big…_'

He kept on moving along the wall while observing his surroundings. '_Is this place an Inn? There are so many rooms here._'

His eyes caught a glimpse of some large standing black wooden objects in front of him. Getting closer, he managed to identify what it was.

'_A Coffin?_'

'_The dark hour…_' he thought to himself after he shifted his gaze and see some pools of red liquid on the floor. '_How come the dark hour is back? Was it because I was freed from the seal?_'

He then continued his pace, feeling slightly disturbed by the view.

'_Where's the exit anyway…_' he wondered.

*THUD*

Something soft fell onto his head, surprising him a little. He grabbed the fluffy thing and took a look at it.

"It's just you, huh? Um… Mii-chan, right?" he recalled the little squirrel's name which he was grabbing right now. "How come you're able to move during this time? Are you like Koromaru?" he muttered.

As if the squirrel understood him, it wagged its' little tail and it seemed to have nodded.

"Wha…? Did you just nod at me?" Minato was bewildered by the little rascal's action.

Ignoring his question, Mii-chan freed himself from Minato's grasp and leaped down to the floor. He looked at Minato's face and then shifted his gaze to the corridor on their right side. He looked at Minato again before he ran ahead and stopped after a few meters, as if signaling Minato to follow him.

"So you know the way out of here, huh?" Minato looked at the squirrel. "Alright, lead the way."

He decided to follow Mii-chan.

A few minutes later…

He arrived to a spacious hall which looked like a lobby of an inn. Mii-chan was looking at a sliding door in front of him.

'_Is that the exit?_'

Minato walked to the door slowly while trying to balance himself. He was still a bit exhausted but he was steadily gaining all of his senses back.

Mii-chan ran towards the door, stopped, and stared back at him as if telling him to slide the door open.

He trailed the squirrel and did what the squirrel seems he wanted to do.

Opening the door, he was immediately greeted by the green moon in the sky and pools of blood. The blood-like liquid were scattered around the ground all chaotically, giving them a deviant sensation.

Mii-chan, not bothering with the view, scurried ahead to the gate, leaving Minato behind. He stopped outside the gate before gazing at Minato again and rushed out of the place.

He went to follow the squirrel, and looked at the direction where the squirrel went. But he couldn't find Mii-chan on his view.

'_Guess I lost him._' He heaved a sigh.

A blue haired butterfly suddenly appeared from behind him, flying through the air, leaving faint bluish light along its trail.

"You want me to go there?" He asked the butterfly naturally, as if it understands him.

The butterfly circled him for a few seconds before going to the direction where the squirrel had gone.

Minato decided to go to the direction where he last saw Mii-chan, following the blue butterfly. He walked while keeping his balance, as to not let himself fell down on the concrete street as his feet still haven't recovered entirely.

The sound of a pair of shoes, different from his, colliding with the road echoed on the night sky, alarmed Minato.

'_Someone's coming?_' he wondered as it was now the Dark Hour. '_Persona user? Anyway, I've got to hide for now._'

He looked to his side, finding bushes and trees growing, as he was in a mountainous area. He hid behind the bushes, waiting for the person approaching his way.

A few seconds later, he could see the person who was running to the direction he came from before, the inn.

'_Is he an enemy, or a comrade?_' Minato pondered after the man passed him and was gone from his sight. '_He was the person I met with Nanako-chan. Maybe he's a good person?_'

Minato left his hiding place and started walking again to the direction where the person ran from.

'_What was his name again? …Souji?_' he tried remembering the teen's name. '_I think Nanako-chan called him Souji-nii before._'

Minato decided to leave it at that for the time and continued his way.

* * *

Inaba

January 2nd, 2013

Dark Hour

* * *

The street in the Inaba town was covered with pools of blood, following the coming of the Dark Hour. Some coffins could be seen standing up along the way. No sound could be heard except of the footstep of one person.

Accompanied by the moon's green light, the man strode through the 'dead' street. His eyes wandered around, checking the proximity.

'_This seems like a shopping district._' He concluded after walking for a few minutes in the area. He could see many stores along the road. He walked pass of what seems to be about a bookstore and an alleyway beside it.

Minato stopped his movement, eyeing the alleyway.

A few seconds passed, he decided to move on and explore the town more, leaving the shopping district.

…

The moon's green radiance lit the dark street, revealing pools of red liquid.

The sound of water streaming echoed in the now silent town. Minato unconsciously followed the source of the sound, which led him to a river, dyed with crimson color.

The sight gave him a chill. He went down the steep hill and arrived at the riverbank. He strolled along it, calming his mind by hearing the water stream.

*Thump*

He stopped walking and grabbed his heart, feeling the familiar sinister sensation.

'This feeling… A shadow, the fool's arcana shadow…' He thought, looking up at the moon which was flashing its green light intensely.

"Kh…" he grabbed his head as he felt a sudden pain in his head. '_Again…_'

The pain was gradually getting worst as he fell on his knees.

"_You should rest for a while you know?_" A voice familiar resounded in his mind.

'_Ryou…ji…?_' He immediately recognized whose voice that was.

"_Oh? You remember me? Wow. That makes me really happy._" The voice sounded cheerful this time. "_Anyway, just go to sleep for now._"

Slowly losing his consciousness, Minato's body fell limp to the ground in the riverbank.

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn

January 2nd, 2013

00.05 A.M.

* * *

"He's gone." Souji declared to his team members who had finished preparing to go to sleep after battling the gigantic shadow.

"Who?" Yosuke asked while yawning, feeling tired after the ordeal.

"That guy who we brought back from the TV World." Souji said.

"What?" Yukiko couldn't believe what Souji had told them.

"How come?" Naoto made another question as she put her head into thinking mode. "Have you checked out other places in the inn, Senpai?" she continued.

"I have." Souji replied. "But he doesn't seem to be in here. He must've gone outside."

'_When did he run out of here though? I should've met him on the way here before if he left before I got back to the inn._' Souji contemplated on his mind.

"Anyway, you guys can rest first. I'll head out and look for him." Souji stated.

"I'll go with you, Souji." Yukiko spoke to him.

"No, you need rest." He rejected her offer and told the team to get some rest. "You guys go to sleep now, I'll handle this."

"Alright…" Yukiko said while feeling dejected.

The team immediately jumped to their prepared futons and wandered to the dream world.

"I'll accompany you until the front gate." Yukiko proposed.

Souji nodded and walked out of the room, followed by Yukiko.

They both arrived at the inn's entrance and Souji prepared his shoes before going out.

"I'll wait until you return, Souji-kun."

Souji smiled hearing that sentence. "You don't have to push yourself Yukiko. If you're tired you can go back inside and sleep."

"No. I'll wait for you here." She stubbornly insisted.

"Alright then." Souji gave up after seeing the look on her face. "If you feel sleepy you can sleep first. I'm going then, Yukiko." He waved his hand as he started running out the place.

* * *

Inaba, River Bank

January 2nd, 2013

Past midnight

* * *

A man's figure was seen laid on the riverbank of the Inaba town. The moon shone on the man's face showing his dark blue hair which covering his right eye.

The man's fingers twitched slightly, followed by him, opening his eyes slowly.

* * *

Minato's POV

* * *

_I__ woke up, greeted by the moon's light.__ I tried to get up from my position but unfortunately I failed to do so. _

'_It seems my body is not in a proper condition.' I thought, as I struggle to move my legs and arms. The headache had subsided and I don't feel anything wrong with my body except for my limp body parts._

_I then looked at the bright night sky, waiting for my body to do as I order. 'It's a full moon… This really brings back so many memories…'_

_Suddenly my mind went to the teen whom I hid from when I went out of the inn. I wondered whether he met the fool's arcane shadow or not. _

_I closed my eyes for a few second, sharpening my senses. I heard water streaming and some cicadas scrapping their wings, resulting in the song like melody which accompanied the night view. _

'_This is quite relaxing…' _

_I then tried moving my body members again, which gave me some responds. I moved my arms and attempted to support my body. _

_I managed to get up and looked around my surroundings, checking my whereabouts._

_It seems I was near a river… I remembered I was walking down the street and then I got a sudden headache again, I reminisced while rubbing my temple. _

_I stood up, feeling the night breeze and stared at the river which was showing the full moon's reflection. It was past midnight I suppose before looking for a clock near the river bank which showed that it was already 12.20 A.M._

_As I watched the reflection on the river, my mind drifted away, thinking about what happened with me, being the seal of Nyx, how did I get here, and why am I alive again, with a physical body. _

_Other questions soon popped up in my mind as I remember my old friends, Yukari, Aigis, Mitsuru, Junpei, Akihiko, Ken, Fuuka, Shinji, and Koromaru, the S.E.E.S. team._

_I walked towards a small standing from concrete which maybe is used for people to sit and do some fishing. _

_*Thud*_

_It seems I kicked something below me. I then looked beneath me and took a pebble which were scattered along concrete. I throw it up and down on my hand, feeling its weight while still thinking about things._

_My mind was full with questions about what happened to me, what that squirrel was trying to do as it lead me to get out of the inn. _

'_Now, where was that squirrel again?' I wondered as I throw the rock in my hand, doing a *mizu kiri *****__**(stone skipping)**__ which I failed to do so. The rock bounced on the water twice before it sunk to the stream. I stared again at the moon's reflection, feeling the wind blowing towards me. _

_I then grabbed another pebble lying beneath me and felt its weight, throwing it up and down on my hand again. Before I was able to throw the pebble, I heard a sound of footstep closing in to me. _

_I took a glance at the direction where the footstep was coming, looking at the person who was coming to my way. 'It's him, huh?' I thought as I turned my face forward. _

"What do you want?_" I asked the approaching teenager while gazing at the moon's projection. _

_He just walked closer to me and answered me after he got close enough to me. _

"I was looking for you, um… Arisato-san._" He answered me using my name. He, calling me Arisato, made me a bit irritated. I don't really know why, but it's probably because I don't really like people calling me by my family name. _

"Minato_" I said to him._

"Excuse me?_" He asked back to me._

"Just call me Minato._" I replied while heaving a sigh. _

"Okay then, Minato-san._" He immediately did what I told him, ignoring my statement. "_How are you feeling?_"_

"It's okay now, I guess._" _

"Really, you shouldn't have gone without saying a word like that._" He said with a worried voice. "_You really got me panicked then._"_

_I threw the stone I held in my hand again, failed doing the mizu kiri again. _

_I then gazed upon the moon and looked back at the river's clear water which was reflecting the full moon. _

_I could feel the wind blowing faster which cooled my head off slowly, followed by the silence between the both of us. I could feel his glare on my skin, as if he was checking on a rare specimen. _

_Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, I felt that it was necessary to start a conversation with him._

_I moved my gaze to the moon on the sky, trying to find a topic. My heart throbbed a bit, leaving a painful feeling in my heart. I suddenly remembered about the gigantic shadow's presence, similar to the first arcana shadow I encountered, the Fool arcana shadow. That made my memory jogged, remembering the time when I was fighting with the shadow. It gave me a chill. My vision was betraying me, giving me the green light emanating from the sky, instead of the light yellow brightness it was supposed to give me. I then looked at the river again, just to find that it was bright red, like a streaming pool of blood. I blinked a few times before my sight became normal again. _

_My mouth abruptly moved on its own, "_Blood._" I muttered as if I was in a trance._

"Blood?_" He asked after hearing that._

_I ignored his question and continued talking. I talked for a few minutes, telling him a story about a man who sacrificed his life to save the world, my tale. I don't know what made me started telling him this story. I just kept on going. _

_He listened to me silently, as if believing everything that I said to him. I told him the story until the time I became the seal. I took a glance at him. He was unfazed by my story._

_I then asked him, "_Do you believe everything I told you?_"_

"Yes, I do._" He answered after a few seconds of thinking. _

_I was a bit surprised to hear his answer. He believed the things that I, a stranger to him, had said, even though it seems like a fairytale. "_Anyway, I'll continue._" I said to him._

"The man suffered as he became the seal. He had to endure the many terrors which were caused by humanity itself which he was trying to protect. His mind was corrupted slowly. His will on the verge of breaking._" I stopped to breath in the night's air._

"As his mind was being dyed in the chaotic world, he heard a voice which he knew. He tried opening his eyes in the darkness. A glimpse of light shone through the abyss, reaching him. The voice was steadily becoming louder as time passes, so does the light which shine brighter and brighter. His mind was cleansed from the dreads. Soon, he was blinded by the light and before he knew it, he was released from the seal._" I stopped again, deciding to finish the talk._

"Well, that's about it I guess._" I faced the teen. He was again, lost in his deep thought. I put on a weak smile and walked towards him. I offered him my hand._

"Oh, sorry about that._" He apologized as he took my hand and did a handshake._

"Once again, my name is Arisato Minato._" I introduced myself properly which was replied by him, "_Seta Souji. You can call me Souji too, Minato-san._"_

"Okay Souji-kun._" I prompted._

"Let's head back then. You have to rest now. It's almost one in the morning already._" He said after looking at the clock near the street. _

_He walked first and got up to the street, leaving the riverbank. "_By the way, you're from the Gekkoukan High School right?_" He spouted out that question out of the blue to me, which stunned me a little. _

"Yes, I am. Why do you asked?_" I responded to him._

"No reason. I was just curious._" He answered me. "_Oh and another question, how old are you?_"_

_That question made me think for a few seconds because I couldn't decide whether I should tell him the truth of my age or not. "_… '18' years old…_" I answered with a low voice._

"What? So you're the same age as me. I thought you were younger._" He spoke out his surprised mind. _

_That question kind of got to my nerve as I felt my pulse rose a bit. I decided to dismiss the thought and sighed._

"Let's go._" He called as he turned his back and started walking._

_I looked down on my feet and took a pebble, trying to do mizu kiri for the third time. I threw the stone on the water._

_*Splash* *Splash* *Splash* *Thud*_

_I saw the stone I threw hit the other side of the river as it gave a colliding sound to the ground there. _

'_Third time's the charm, huh? Guess I'll have to use this chance and end things properly.' I thought as I left the riverbank, following Souji back to the Amagi Inn._

* * *

Inaba, Amagi Inn

January 2nd 2013

01.09 A.M.

* * *

Yukiko was still waiting in front of the inn for Souji to come back and hoped that he found the blue haired boy. The other was already asleep inside the inn, taking a rest after the long night.

It's becoming colder but Yukiko could finally see 2 figures coming to her direction. It was Souji and the blue haired boy. She was very glad to see the both of them returning safely.

Souji was surprised that the girl was still waiting for him even though he said that she should rest inside if she was tired. Souji became worried seeing how cold it was. After all it's still the winter season.

Minato apologized to her, feeling guilty because he had gone without telling them, making the team worried. Minato also heard that she was also the one who took care of him when he was unconscious. Yukiko, being modest, told Minato that it was no big deal to her.

They went inside to the inn to rest as well.

Minato was led by the Inn's heir to the room where he was first taken care in. He obediently nodded as the long black haired beauty asked him to follow her. Souji felt a little bit irritated at the scene but refute his feeling and keep it inside him. He waved his hand to Yukiko and left the 2. He went back to his room to get a rest he needs after battling the gigantic shadow and all the running he had done. He found his friends already asleep on their futons, with very disorganized positions. He carefully moved to his futon, now wanting to woke his friends. He reached his futon and laid off his back, yawning as he felt sleepy.

Before he slept, he recalled what happened after he finished the fight with the Shadow and after he found out that Minato was missing from his room.

Flashback

* * *

_*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*_

_The sound of panting could be heard in the street of Inaba City. A figure was running alone in the middle of the night. He was looking around him as he ran. He was searching for someone. His eyes screened all the alleyway and blind spot of the town, from the Shopping District to the Urban district. He ran all the way from the Amagi Inn. _

_Seta Souji, was searching for the person who was missing after the fight with the gigantic shadow. He checked on him after the battle, but couldn't find him anywhere in the inn. He decided to search for him outside the inn and went to the city, running there for the second time after he went to the Velvet Room earlier. _

'_Where could he be?' Souji wondered. He didn't manage to find him in the city. But then he realized that there were 2 more places where he hadn't gone to, the Yasogami High and riverbank of Inaba town. He let his instinct take over him and started running towards the riverbank. _

_Souji arrived at the riverbank a few minutes later. He heard the sound of water splashing there. He moved his eyes, finding the source of the sound and saw the figure which belong to the person he was looking for, standing precisely in the concrete which people uses to fish. The person was grabbing a small pebble in his hand, throwing it up and down. _

_His face was covered by his blue hair which made Souji couldn't see his face. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and gave Souji a glimpse of the man's face, showing the sorrowful eyes he had as he stared at the moon's reflection on the river's surface. Souji contemplated of what he's doing or what he's thinking but he then sighed in relief because he had finally found him. He started walking towards him and stood beside him. _

"What do you want?_" he asked Souji. _

"I was looking for you, um… Arisato-san._" He answered after he got close to him. _

"Minato._" the blue haired man said to him._

"Excuse me?_"_

"Just call me Minato._" he replied while heaving a sigh. "_It seems you did your homework._"_

"Okay then, Minato-san._" Souji immediately called him. "_How are you feeling?_"_

"It's okay now, I guess._" _

"Really, you shouldn't have gone without saying a word like that._" Souji said with a worried voice. "_You really got me panicked then._"_

_The man then threw the stone he held in his hand. Souji observed his action as he looked at the stone failed to get across the river. He wondered if he was trying to do the mizu kiri (stone skipping). _

_Minato faced the moon before gazing to the river, looking at the reflection on the water surface. Silence befell them while Souji was watching him. _

_Minato suddenly choked out the word "_Blood._"_

_Souji could heard what he said and immediately asked back, "_Blood?_"_

_He was ignored as the man continued talking, giving him a story which was quite familiar to him. He had heard this story before, from Margaret and Igor. Souji decided to hear his story. The blue haired man stopped speaking and asked him if he believed his story or not. Souji's answered yes without any hesitation in his voice, surprising the man._

_He decided to continue his story, which is the continuation from the one Souji heard from Margaret and Igor. Souji was trying to absorb the story, not knowing that the man had finished talking and was offering his hand to him._

_He immediately apologized and grabbed his hand. _

_The man introduced himself again, which Souji replied. Before they head back, they had some chat. Souji then left first and heard the sound of water splashing and a *thud*, which meant that Minato managed to do the mizu kiri. He then followed Souji back to the inn._

* * *

End of flash back…

'_Anyway, I need to get some rest for now. Tomorrow there'll be a meeting with the Kirijo's group._' He thought before falling asleep because of the fatigue.

* * *

Inaba, Amagi inn

January 2th 2014

07.49 A.M.

* * *

The dusk light started to shine brighter as minutes passed. The sun was steadily gaining height, signaling the arrival of the morning. Only the sound of breaths and snores could be heard inside the room. Birds started chirping musically, making a nice melody. Morning dews from leaves fell down, wetting the ground below them.

Souji was sleeping soundly with his friends, Yosuke, Kanji and Teddie. The 4 of them were sleeping in one room in the Amagi inn. They were having a sleep over to celebrate the New Year last night. The girls were in another room, next to the boys room.

The boys sleeping position were chaotic, except Souji who was in the middle of the chaos.

Yosuke's head was on Souji's feet while Kanji's was on Yusuke's feet to. Teddie was lying on the edge of the room. He was supposed to be beside Kanji, but apparently he managed to rolled there while he was asleep. Anyway, they're sleeping peacefully.

While they were fast asleep, the girls were already up. Well, they had just woken up to be exact. Still having the morning face on her face, Yukiko, who had woken up first, yawned while covering her mouth. Naoto was the second one to wake up. She was kneeling on her futon with a blank face, eyes closed. She yawned, opening her small mouth without even caring her manners. That's probably because she was still sleepy.

Chie was in the middle of her dream when Yukiko tried to wake her up. She mumbled something before Yukiko's face turned red from embarrassment and scolded her, making her awake from her dream.

"Nya… Yuki… You… Hav… Kis.. Wif… So… Hi… Ne~? Munyah…"

*BLUSH*

Yukiko was panicking after she heard that and then she instantly pinched Chie's cheeks with both her hands and stretched them, waking Chie up from her slumber. She did that while yelling at her, "Chie! Stop spouting nonsense and wake up!"

"Hwaaaaa…. It hurts, Yukikoo~…" Chie protested, grabbing her red cheeks with her hands, some tears rolled down from her eyes.

"Fwaah…" Rise was awoken because of the commotion caused by Yukiko and Chie.

"What's wrong, senpai…?" she asked while looking at the two of them and rubbing her eyes.

"Oh… It's nothing, Rise-chan." Yukiko waved her hands frantically trying to hide her embarrassed face.

"You should wash your face Rise-chan." She continued, changing the topic.

"Mmh…" still feeling drowsy, Rise nodded with her eyes still half closed and got up to her feet. She walked wobbly towards the basin inside the toilet and washed her sleepy face with some cool water.

"There, all done!" she cheerfully said after wiping her face off with towel.

Meanwhile, Naoto was walking slowly to the bathroom with her clothes half revealed, surprising both Chie and Yukiko who was in the scene.

"Nao…to… Is that… Real?" Chie, seeing the almost naked figure of the still half asleep Naoto, asked.

Hearing that, Naoto's brain began to work immediately and her cheeks turned crimson pink. She reflexively covered the upper part of her body with her hands.

"Don't look!" she regained her composure instantly and shouted to the two women, turning back on them.

Rise, who had came out from the bathroom, witnessed Naoto's reaction and decided to pull a prank on her. She sneaked behind her and tried to grope her, but Naoto moved sideways and made Rise fall on her face.

"Owch… Why did you avoid that…?" Rise protested.

"And what were you planning to do with me?" Naoto retorted back.

"What are you so embarrassed about Naoto-chan?" Yukiko questioned her.

"I-i-it's none of your business!" Naoto stuttered.

"Wha~t? You have a nice body you know, Naoto-chan," Rise pointed out. "It's such a waste to not show it to the guys. It must be very hard for you to wear those bandages every time ri~ght?"

"Uu…" Naoto was cornered with statements from Rise.

"Yea… Why don't you just let it be and started wearing more girlish clothes?" Chie suggested. "I bet the boys would be all over you."

Smokes could be seen coming out from Naoto's head and her cheeks got redder. "N-n-no way I'm wearing those kinds of clothes!" she yelled back in a defensive manner.

"Come one Naoto-chan…" Yukiko tried to persuade Naoto who seemed like a cornered cat surrounded by dogs.

"Let's do this senpai! "Rise gave them a signal before the three jumped at Naoto and grabbed her. "Let… Go!" Naoto futilely tried to break free from the three's grasped. "Keep her like that, senpai!"

Rise then walked towards her luggage and pick out a white dress. She turned towards Naoto and grinned to her, making Naoto shivered in fear, cold sweats running down on her face.

"W-what are you doing, Rise?" Naoto spoke out as Rise started to undress her slowly. "S-s-stop! Don't you dare…"

"Nu-uh. I'm not gonna let you get away again. This time I'll make sure you wear cute clothes."

"B-b-but…" Naoto was still struggling out of the 2 senpai's clutches but failed to do so.

"No… No… NO~!"

Naoto's scream of agony could be heard even from the boy's room.

"Naoto!" Kanji rose up reflexively after hearing the scream of his secret of his 'secret' crush. "Wait for me! I'll come and save you!" he shouted.

Silence filled the room for a few seconds before Kanji fall asleep again on the bed.

"Hm…?" Teddie was awoken by Kanji's words. "What's wrong with Kanji…?" He questioned Kanji but didn't get any reply from him as he was already fast asleep again.

"Oy… Kanji! Don't ignore me!" Teddy, feeling irritated, yelled and started rolling towards the sleeping Kanji.

It wasn't long before Kanji's grunt echoed inside the room, waking everybody else up. "Guaahh!" Kanji shouted because the sudden pain from his stomach which Teddie was now laying on.

"What's with the ruckus… *yawn* Yosuke demanded an explanation while rubbing his sleepy eyes with his right hand.

"Ted! What the hell are you doing?!" Kanji screamed out, feeling annoyed.

"Well, you dindn't answer me when I asked you before, so I just want to wake you up to hear your respond." Teddie answered, as if it was the most obvious thing to be done.

"Wha…?!" Kanji was stupefied. "You could have woken me up using softer method you know!"

"Calm down guys…" Souji tried to sooth the atmosphere in the room. "Look at the time. We should hurry and prepare ourselves to meet the Kirijo Group today."

"Alright…" Yosuke agreed to the suggestion and got up to his feet to go and wash his face. "Tch…" Kanji threw Teddie from his stomach and prepared his clothes.

"Aw! Aw! Aw!" Teddie was thrown out of the bed, rolling on the floor, while protesting from the pain. "That really hurts, Kanji!"

"Get up, Teddy." Souji said to him.

"Okay, Sensei!" He immediately stood up like he didn't feel any pain after being thrown by Kanji.

"By the way, did you find that guy last night, Souji?" Yosuke asked.

"I did. He's resting right now in another room." Souji replied while tidying up his futon.

"Alright then, *YAWN*" Yosuke yawned again.

His jaw was suddenly head butted by Teddy, which aggravate him. He choked Teddy while protesting.

Souji could only heave a sigh as he shook his head.

Just like that, the group's day started with a lot of commotion going on.

* * *

S.E.E.S. Room

* * *

*Knock* *Knock*

"Excuse me, Kirijo-san. This is Seta Souji and my friends." Souji knocked on the door and excused himself.

"Come in please." A stern and cool feminine voice came out, permitting the team to go into the room.

Souji slid the door open and walked inside, followed by his friends.

"Good morning." Mitsuru greeted them. "How was your rest last night?"

"We have a good rest, Kirijo-san." Yukiko responded politely. "Thank you for asking."

"Just call me Mitsuru, Amagi-san." The crimson haired woman said. "The rest of you guys too. Don't be so formal."

The team was quite nervous because they were in the front of a famous and influential person. After hearing Mitsuru's words, they started to loosen the tension between them as Yosuke heaved a sigh of relieve.

"So, let's introduce ourselves first." The woman declared.

Both of the team introduced themselves properly. Well, Junpei did something stupid that made the whole people inside the room laughed. While he was introducing himself, he stood up but managed to tripped himself and fell down, hard, on the tatami.

Yukari smacked Junpei's head because she was irritated of his stupidity.

"How long are you going to keep doing that, Stupei? You really never change." She sighed after hitting his head. Junpei just grunted and sit back after that.

After the introduction was done, the two groups exchange another greeting and then started the main discussion of the day, which they had promised to talk about, the shadow and the midnight channel.

"So, Souji-san, please explain what you know about the shadow and the so-called midnight channel to us." Mitsuru inquired an explanation from the leader of the Investigation Team (I.T.).

"Now then, where to start…" Souji wondered before continuing to speak. "We first know about the shadow from the midnight channel, which we visited accidentally almost two years ago."

"At first it was only me and this guy who knew about it." Yosuked added.

"Plus me!" Chie shouted.

Yosuke let out a sigh and signaled Souji to continue. Souji then continued explaining the situation and about the I.T. members, how they get their personas, and so on. Souji didn't discuss about the Velvet room though.

Mitsuru was listening intensely and watched Souji's every movement carefully. Souji received her stare bravely, although he wavered a little bit at first. Finally, he finished talking.

Now it's time for the S.E.E.S. Team to talk about their knowledge of the shadows and the persona. "Well, that's all we know about the shadows and the persona. Now it's your turn for some explanation." Souji demanded Mitsuru without fear.

Mitsuru smiled lightly as she looked at him who didn't show any fear nor hesitation when he asked her.

"Alright then, I'll give the information you want to know." She said before she started talking about the S.E.E.S. Team background and the fight of the shadows in the tower of Tartarus. But she didn't talk much about their leader, although she mentioned about him in the middle of the talk.

1 hour later…

"That's it." Mitsuru finished the exchange of information. Souji nodded while he processed the information he had just received, earning him a grin from Mitsuru.

"Mitsuru, I think we should take a break." Fuuka suggested after looking at the I.T. members who were starting to fall asleep after the long talk, especially Yosuke and Chie.

* * *

Minato woke up in the room where he was treated the day before. The sun was already shining brightly as he felt its radiance on his skin. He tried to feel his body, checking whether there is anything wrong with his physical condition.

'Even _though I was supposed to be dead and become the seal to protect humanity, I was given this chance to redo things and finally finish this properly._' He thought to himself. "_I shouldn't waste this chance then._"

He got up on the bed and yawned, stretching himself. He then dressed himself using the tidied up school uniform, changing from the yukata Yukiko provided him last night and got up. He checked his belonging again before leaving his room.

He was lost in thought during his walk along the hallway, thinking about his friends and the changes that may have happen during the 2 years he was imprisoned in the statue which sealed Nyx.

He then heard Souji's voice, along with some ruckus in the room beside him.

He decided to check the room, sliding the door open a little bit.

He looked through the opening in the door and found an albino dog with a pair of red eyes sitting beside a familiar blonde haired girl.

The dog was looking at the girl before it started sniffing around and locked its eyes on the slightly opened door.

The dog's eyes finally met Minato's eyes, surprising him. He immediately closed the door and then turned his back, thinking of what he should do next.

*Woof*

"What's wrong Koromaru? What do you mean he's here?" a familiar woman voice could be heard from the room, followed with the sound of the dog running closing in to the door.

Minato, realizing that he had been discovered, quickly ran away from the room.

*Rip*

The sliding door's paper was wrecked by the albino dog.

*Woof* *Woof*

"Koro-chan!" Fuuka, being panic, shouted and tried to follow Koromaru who was now already chasing Minato.

* * *

Omake

* * *

_Two kids, a boy and a girl, were walking in the night street. Their pace was quite fast. The rain had stopped pouring after they had walked halfway. But the night wind was breezing through the city._

_The boy shivered as he felt the wind blew by him. His clothes were all wet because of the rain. As so did the girl's clothes._

"_Achoo!" the girl sneezed as she felt it too. The boy immediately tried to warm the girl by rubbing her hand._

_It was a busy street. People were going home from their work, getting ready to get a good night rest. The boy then noticed three teenagers sitting on the street, smoking and chatting. He immediately slowed their pace down, giving him her sister's questioning look._

"_What's wrong, Onii-chan?"_

"_Shh… Be quiet, Hamu-chan."_

_*Clang*_

_The sound of an empty can being kicked was heard, alarming the three teens._

"_Hey! Watcha two kids doin' ere? It's already late you know. Kids should stay at home at this time." The first guy said._

"_Yeah. What are you guys up to at this kind of time?" the second guy asked too._

"_It's none of your business." The young boy said to them with a sharp look, annoying the three._

"_What's with your face, kid? You want to be hit? Huh?!" the third guy furiously said while getting ready to punch the boy._

'_Oh, man' he thought to himself. 'This is gonna be a problem'_

"_Hey! Stop right there!" a voice suddenly came from behind the three guys. "Don't bully those kids!"_

"_Huh?! Who do you think you are?" the third guy said as he turn around just to see two boys._

"_What the?" he was surprised to see them. "You're just kids. What can you do? Hahahah!"_

"_Oh, so you want to try us?" the boy with the silver hair said while crackling his fists._

"_Heh! You kids should've just stayed at home!" _

_The guy rushed to the two to punch them but the two nodded to each other and moved out of the way while crossing their foot, tripping the teen._

_The brown haired kid then stepped on the teen's back. "What? Is that all you got?" the kid with the brown hair taunted them._

"_These brats!"_

_The second guy ran towards them._

"_Aki! Let's beat the crap out of them!" the brown haired boy said to his friend._

"_Alright! Let's do this, Shinji!" the silver haired kid answered enthusiastically while charging towards the guy. _

_The teen swung his fist to the boy called 'Aki'. Aki managed to dodge it and countered it with a swift kick from his right leg to the teen's stomach. _

"_Kuh..!" the teen grunted as he felt the kick hit his ribs._

"_Hey! You okay?" his friend questioned._

"_I'm alright. Humph!" he recovered back from the pain and started charging at Aki again. "Orahhh!"_

"_Heh, your movements are easy to read." he pointed out as he dodged all of his punches and kicks._

_Meanwhile, the brown haired guy called 'Shinji' was fighting the other guy who fell down earlier._

"_You little brat! You really get on my nerves." He angrily said._

_Shinji dodge his left jab and jumped slightly, giving him a momentum to do a powerful uppercut to the guy._

"_You really get on my nerves too you know?" he said as he turned around, not checking whether the guy will counter his attack or not._

"_Guh…" The guy then fell limp as he lost his consciousness._

"_What the hell?!" the third guy was shocked to see what had just happened. "Tch! I'll beat you kids up!"_

_The guy dashed to Shinji and brought out a knife out of his pocket._

"_Oh, man… Do you even need a knife to deal with a kid?" he taunted him after seeing the knife._

"_Uwoooo!" the man cried, getting agitated because of their mockings._

_Shinji moved to his side using a side step and hit the guy's hand with a powerful force, making him dropped his knife._

"_Ow!" he grunted._

_Shinji didn't stop at that but he continued with a kick to the guy's private._

"_Argh!" the man groaned and fell down, grabbing his crotch._

"_You should just go back to your mother, idiots." Shinji said to him with a sneer. _

"_Urg…" he could only moan in pain._

"_You finished yet, Aki?" Shinji asked his silver haired partner._

"_Not yet, Shinji! Give me a few more seconds!" he answered while dodging a right hook from the guy which was aimed to his face._

"_Tch… He's having too much fun in this…"_

"_Um…" the blue haired boy cut in._

"_What?"Shinji retorted back with a cold tone._

"_Thanks for saving us…"_

"_No problem." Shinji responded while still looking at Akihiko's battle. "You kids should've stayed at home you know?"_

"_But… You are a KID too, you know?" he emphasized on the word KID to him._

_Shinji was taken aback a bit after hearing it._

"_I'm older than you, as far as I know it." He retorted back with an irritated voice._

"_Sure…" the blue haired boy seemed to not care and altered his attention to his little sister. "Are you alright, Hamu-chan?"_

"_Yeah, thanks to those two." She said with a smile._

"_We'll thank them properly after this." He said and watched the battle between Aki and the teen._

_Aki was dodging everything that the guy threw at him. He didn't do any attack to him. The teen had finally started to show some fatigue after all of his attack that didn't even scratch the kid._

"_What's wrong? You tired already?" Aki mocked him._

"_Ungh! I'm gonna thrash you, you brat!" He said while readying himself for a right kick. "Take this!"_

_*Thwack* _

"_W-what?!" he was shocked to see his kick got blocked by the kid. "No way!"_

"_Yes way." Aki said as he charge to the guy and hit him in the chin with quite a brute force, making him fell unconscious._

"_There! It's done." he said while tapping his clothes, getting any dust from his clothes off after the fight. "So, what are you two doing at this time? Shouldn't you be at home?"_

"_Oh, we were just on our way back." The boy said. "Anyway, thanks for helping us."_

"_No problem!" Aki said cheerfully._

"_Thank you, you two." Hamuko came from behind his brother and thanked them._

_The two guys who saw her was immediately stunned. They were charmed by Hamuko's cuteness. The older brother who saw their reaction chuckled at the two. 'She got them with only a smile, huh? That's Hamuko for you alright.'_

"_H-hi there." Aki greeted her nervously. Shinji was speechless._

"_Hi." Hamuko smiled gently at the two._

_The silver haired boy was taken aback when he saw her smile, his cheeks started getting red. He walked backwards slowly but accidentally slipped over a puddle and fell down._

"_W-whoa!" *THUD* *SPLASH*_

_Shinji was surprised to see his friend fell. "Oi, Aki…"_

"_A-are you okay?" Hamuko asked him straight away while moving closer to him. "Now your clothes are wet too."_

_Aki's face got red as he saw Hamuko's cute worried face in front of him. "W-Waaah! I-I-I'm alright!" he stuttered while backing away from her._

_The blue haired boy grinned evilly at the scene going on in front of him. 'Good one, Hamuko! Keep going at it!'_

_Shinji who witnessed the scene could only shut himself up, but his heart was in disarray._

"_Here, let me help you." She offered her hand._

_The boy was hesitating whether to take it or not. _

"_I-I'm alright! I can get up on my own." he told her._

"_Really?" Hamuko asked him with a look that made Aki backed away more._

"_Y-y-yes!" he cleared himself and instantly got up._

"_Are you really okay?" she gave him another question while checking his body, to check any injuries he might sustain after falling._

"_I'm okay, more or less…" he said as his cheeks got redder._

"_Yeap, you're okay." she finished checking Aki's back and returned to his brother's side._

_Silence befell them, making an awkward atmosphere. Shinji finally decided to break the awkwardness by asking them. "Um, why are you both drenched?"_

"_Oh, these?" the blue haired boy grabbed his shirt. "We were caught up in the rain not long ago." The blue haired boy answered as he pointed his index finger to the sky._

"_Yeah." Hamuko supported his answer, giving a childish smile as she spoke._

_The other 2 boy who were looking at the girl, were swayed by her charming and attractive smile._

"_You two should really go home and change your clothes or you are gonna catch a cold." Aki told them with a concerned voice, trying to divert his attention._

"_We were on our home, but those punks just started to pick on us. You know the rest." The older brother explained._

"_Hey! Aki! Shinji! Get back here you idiots!" a crimson haired girl yelled from faraway at the two, making them flinched in surprise._

"_Oh man…" Aki groaned, his face looking panicky._

"_Tch… We're busted already…" Shinji looked displeased._

_The red haired girl came closer to them. A silver haired girl, who looked like the boy called Aki, was trailing behind her, grabbing the red haired girl's clothes, being shy. _

"_Geez, a minute I let my eyes off of you two and you guys had already gone." the girl sighed. "I really need to put you guys on custody."_

"_Hell no!" Aki protested._

"_Ngh…" Shinji grunted while a making a disturbed face._

"_And what's wrong with you, Aki? Your shirts are all wet!"_

"_Uh… I can explain…"_

"_What happened, onii-chan?" the seemed to be little sister of Aki, asked with a concerned look on her face._

"_N-n-nothing happened, Miki! Ahah… ahahahah…" Aki deliberately said to his little sister and trying to hide it by laughing._

"_Hmh! You're going back with us now!" the scarlet haired girl said while grabbing their shirts' collar with a brute force._

"_A-ah…, Mitsuru onee-san…" the smaller timid girl uttered._

_The red haired girl then spotted the two siblings looking at them._

"_Oh, hello there." the girl called Mitsuru smiled to the siblings. "Good evening." she bowed slightly_

"_G-good evening…" the silver haired girl, called Miki, bowed too._

_Aki and Shinji could only sweatdropped after seeing the sudden change of expression on the red haired face._

"_How did she do that?" Aki whispered to Shinji._

"_Don't know, and I don't want to know it." Shinji replied._

_The two waved at the girls and smiled. "Hi."_

"_I'm sorry for the trouble that this two had caused to you." the scarlet haired girl apologized, slightly bowing._

"_I'm sorry for what my brother did too…" Miki bowed, feeling as though she was the one who was in the wrong._

"_Oh, it's alright. Actually, they helped us from these punks." The blue haired boy explained as he pointed his finger to the 'corpses' of the three teens that Aki and Shinji had defeated earlier._

"_Oh, really now?" the older girl seemed quite surprised. "Anyway, you two are gonna receive my 'Execution' later!"_

"_Say what?!" Aki was shocked._

"_Not that again…." Shinji had his head face the floor while he put his hand on his face, covering his annoyed look._

"_Come here you two." She ordered as she dragged the two boys away from the siblings. _

"_Nooooo~~!" Aki shouted in fear while struggling to get lost from the red haired girl's grip on his shirt._

"_A-ahh… Onee-san, onii-san, wait for me." Miki tailed behind the two who were being dragged by Mitsuru._

"…_." Shinji didn't say anything as they were both dragged to a white limousine, but his face showed an incoming hell._

"_Wow, Onii-chan. That girl must be rich!" Hamuko awed as she saw the white long car._

"_Yeah, probably." he replied._

_The siblings watch as the crimson haired girl ordered her butler to get the two boys inside the car and watch over them. She then got into the car followed by Miki, and drove away. Before they left, Mitsuru waved her hand at the two to say goodbye._

_They watched as the car got further away until it's gone._

"_Okay, time to head home." the blue haired boy said._

"_Alright, Minato nii-chan." Hamuko grinned._

'_Honestly, what a day today is… Getting drenched in a heavy rain, and almost got beaten up by some punks…' Minato thought to himself as he sighed._

_He then grabbed his sister's hand and they started walking side by side._

* * *

End

Finally updated... (笑) Sorry guys... For many things. We really mean it. Sorry for the late update, sorry for the wrong grammars or any of the likes, sorry if there're any part which seems weird to you guys (you can ask us if you don't understand something though :D).

We just didn't have enough motivation to write it before...

Because Atlus kept creating continuation for P4 and P3 ==a (P4 Golden and Persona 4 Arena) which ruined our interest in continuing our story. (Gomen... Hontoni Gomennasai)

Anyway, Thank you for reading this chapter. We don't know when we'll finish the next installment for this story though (even though we have a small draft for the next chapter)... Really, really sorry.

Guess this is another farewell for now.

Thank you again, and see you in the next chapters!

Your reviews and critics are welcome as they can give us motivation and ideas to continue this story. (笑)


End file.
